Target
by madmother2
Summary: Gillian is kidnapped. What extremes will Cal go to to find her? Set after the season 3 finale.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Dr Gillian Foster was hard working, punctual, professional and reliable. These are all excellent traits in a businesswoman. Unfortunately, they are also perfect traits in a target; it had only taken the observers nine days to be sure that she always arrived at work, alone, just before eight o'clock in the morning.

Gillian turned the car off and got out. Locking the car, she started towards the office doors. She had only taken three steps when an SUV came hurtling around the corner and screeched to a halt directly behind her. She barely had time to realise that she was in danger before she was grabbed from behind and bundled into the back of the SUV. Gillian screamed as they grabbed her and tried to fight but she was no match for her attackers and within seconds she was being pressed firmly into the cushions of the back seat as they drove away. Terrified, she realised that all of her abductors wore ski masks and that one of them was pointing a gun at her,

'Shut up! And don't move!'

The young male voice was on the edge of panic and Gillian obeyed him instantly, knowing that she needed to let him feel in control if she was going to stay alive. She made no attempt to resist when they tied a bag over her head, cutting off her vision, instead concentrating on listening. Listening to the sounds of their voices and to the sounds of the traffic and the city, searching for clues to where they were going.

The security guard from the adjacent offices heard Gillian scream and looked out just in time to see her being pushed into the SUV. He came rushing out, hand reaching for his gun, but he was too late, the car was already two blocks away. Pulling out his phone, he dialled 911.

Cal Lightman grunted with irritation as the police patrol officer waved him to a halt. Winding down his window, he said,

'What's going on?'

'I'm sorry, Sir, but there's been an incident. I'm going to have to ask you to take a different route.'

'I can't. I work just there.'

As Cal waved towards the offices of the Lightman Group, he saw a cluster of patrol cars all centred around their office and he felt a sudden sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

The young officer followed his gesture and said,

'Do you work for the Lightman Group, Sir?'

'Yes, I'm Cal Lightman. What's happened?'

Swallowing, the young officer said,

'Wait here, Sir. I'll get someone to come and talk to you.'

'Bollocks to that!'

Cal got out of his car and rushed over to the cluster of DCPD detectives, the cold feeling in his gut intensifying. As he reached the group, one of the detectives came and took him by the arm, saying,

'Cal, come and sit down.'

The compassion in the man's voice hit Cal like a brick and he said,

'It's Gillian, isn't it?'

'Yes, but we think she's all right.'

'You think she's all right? What the fuck does that mean? Where is she?'

He looked wildly around and the detective gritted his teeth and said,

'She's been kidnapped.'

Cal stared blankly at him, desperately looking for any doubt at all. But there was none. Gillian had been kidnapped.

Cal let himself be led to a police car and sat down, oblivious to everything except the screaming inside his head.

**Please review.**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Forgot to say before chapter one, but I don't own Lie to Me.

Chapter Two

Ria Torres walked towards work, sipping her coffee as she went. They were in the middle of an interesting research project and she was looking forward to processing the new information they had just received. She was finally getting to grips with the science and Lightman, when he wasn't being a dick, was a pretty good teacher. A few months ago, she'd been thinking about quitting, fed up with Lightman's destructive behaviour towards everything but recently things had been different. He was still ferocious with suspects, taking them out of their comfort zones and forcing the truth out of them but his behaviour towards his staff had been a lot better. Ria wasn't privy to the inner workings of Cal Lightman's mind but she knew that the only two people who he truly cared about were his daughter and Gillian Foster and she was prepared to bet that one or both of them had laid down the law. In this case, she was pretty sure that it was Gillian Foster. When she first started working for the Lightman Group, Ria had assumed that Gillian was just there to provide comfort for the bereaved and give Lightman someone to leer at but she had soon realised how wrong she was. Doctor Foster was a brilliant psychologist with a talent for getting traumatised victims to open up and an uncanny ability to hear the changes in people's voices when they lied. Over time, Ria had come to like and respect the older woman, finding her calm competence gave her a sense of security that she'd never had before. Gillian ran the financial side of the business, insisting that they take some boring well-paid jobs not just interesting ones so that they all got paid every month. She also insisted on certain standards of professional behaviour and when Lightman transgressed them too far or too often she would quietly call him on it. In theory she had as much chance of getting him to behave as a kitten had of controlling a grizzly bear, but in practice her gentle non-confrontational approach was very effective. Helped, of course, by the fact that Lightman adored Foster. Very few people realised how he felt but Ria was a natural at reading people and it had only taken a couple of glimpses of his unguarded face when he looked at Doctor Foster for Ria to know how he felt. She was less certain about how Doctor Foster felt because she automatically guarded herself at work; working with human lie detectors tended to make you do that.

Ria's thought processes derailed as she took in the scene in front of the office. A police officer was dusting Doctor Foster's car for prints and Anna was standing in front of a police car crying. White-faced, Ria pushed through the crowd, ignoring a police officer who tried to stop her and ran over to Anna and said,

'What's happened?'

Anna gulped and said,

'Doctor Foster's been kidnapped.'

'When?'

'Half an hour ago. If only I'd been earlier, maybe I could have stopped them.'

'Them? Who?'

Ria's voice was harsh and she felt a pang of guilt but she needed the details.

'There were three of them, wearing masks. They just grabbed her and drove off.'

'Then there was nothing you could have done.'

Anna dissolved into tears again and Ria turned away in search of more information. Stunned she realised that Lightman was sat huddled in the back seat of the police car, staring straight ahead, doing nothing. Going over to him she said,

'Who's taken her? What do they want?'

Cal Lightman looked blankly at her for a moment, then said,

'I don't know.'

'Well, shouldn't we find out?'

Lightman looked vaguely at her and she found herself feeling angry with him. She knew it was unfair, but one of the only people she trusted in the world had been kidnapped and the man who always fixed everything was staring vacantly into space. Pushing her face into his, she shouted,

'Get the fuck up and find out!'

Cal reacted automatically to the aggression and leapt to his feet, adrenaline rushing through his system. Invading Ria's personal space, he yelled,

'You don't tell me what to do! If I wanted some piss-ignorant idiot ordering me around I'd have stayed at the Pentagon.'

Ria backed off as he barged past her and stormed over to one of the detectives, saying,

'Oi, you! Have you called the FBI yet?'

'We're processing the scene at the moment.'

Cal grabbed the man's arm and pulled him round to face him,

'Doctor Foster worked for the Pentagon for years. You need to call the FBI now!'

The man blinked nervously and nodded, going over to his sergeant and talking urgently to him. A few seconds later, the sergeant came over to Cal and said,

'Do you know what Doctor Foster did at the Pentagon, Sir?'

'Yes.'

'And what was that?'

'Classified.'

The sergeant looked frustrated and Cal sympathised. Hoping to speed things up, he said,

'You call the feds, I'll call the Pentagon. I know who needs to know.'

The sergeant nodded and Cal said,

'Send my staff a copy of the security tapes and we'll see what we can find.'

'I can't do that, Sir. It's evidence.'

I know it's evidence, you plonker. That's why I need to see it. I'll get far more from that tape than any of you uneducated louts.'

'That may be true but you're too close to this Doctor Lightman. I can't let you be involved in the investigation.'

Cal glared at the detective but he refused to back down. With a frustrated growl, Cal turned on his heel, saying,

'Torres, Anna, office now!'

The sergeant watched Cal rush off, knowing exactly what he was going to do, and turned to his team saying,

'Anyone who gives any information about the case to Doctor Lightman will spend the next twenty years on traffic duty, is that clear?'

Cal waited until they were safely inside the doors of the Lightman Group before saying,

'Torres, with me. Anna, as soon as Loker gets in, tell him to get those security tapes.'

'Yes, Doctor Lightman,' said Anna.

Ria followed Cal into his office. He sat behind his desk and said,

'We're going to have to go through all of the cases that Foster's worked on and check that none of the psychos she helped put away have got out but first I need you to get hold of that reptile from the local TV channel.'

Ria looked questioningly at Cal and he continued,

'You know, that woman who's always pestering me for interviews and a shag.'

'I don't think she's ever said that she wants to have sex with you, but I know who you mean.'

'Tell it's her lucky day. I'm going to give her an exclusive interview.'

'Is that a good idea?'

'Eye witnesses start to forget what they've seen after an hour. We need to get anyone who saw anything to call the police straight away.'

Ria nodded slowly. The FBI would probably be furious but their standard protocol was based on kidnapping for ransom and it was highly unlikely that Gillian had been kidnapped for money. Revenge was almost certainly the motive so they needed to find her quickly.

The SUV stopped and the men on either side of Gillian got out. One of them pulled on her arm and she obediently climbed out, making no attempt to remove the bag over her head. She was led down some steps into a building and then along several corridors. Gillian concentrated fiercely so that she would know the way out if she got a chance to try to escape. After a few minutes, they stopped and the bag was removed. Before she had blinked her eyes clear, she heard a door shut and lock. Looking round, she found herself in a small room. There was a window with a grill over it and a door in one corner. Opening the door, she found herself in a small bathroom, containing a toilet and sink. Going to the window she looked out and found herself gazing on a familiar scene. She smiled slightly as she realised that memorising the way out had hardly been necessary, she knew where she was. Unfortunately, that information was not as useful as it might have been and Gillian felt her heart sink as she realised how clever her kidnappers had been to bring her here.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I still don't own Lie to Me. [sighs wistfully]

Chapter Three

Gillian gazed out over the grounds of the old psychiatric hospital where she had worked for two years as a grad student, letting her mind start to process what had happened. She had been kidnapped and brought to the now abandoned hospital. Her kidnappers were organised and fairly intelligent. She hadn't seen their faces and the old hospital was at least a couple of miles from anywhere else making it an ideal location for holding someone. However, they'd spoken in front of her and had not covered all of their skin so she knew their ethnicity, which argued a lack of professional training and a lack of understanding of her abilities. The men in the car had all been young, black and from DC or the surrounding area. On the whole, she decided that she was glad that they weren't professionals. Professionals would have meant that something from her time at the Pentagon had come back to bite her and some of the possibilities raised by that were very unpleasant indeed. However, it did mean that she would need to be careful not to spook them.  
She walked around the room, taking a careful inventory. There was a small folding bed with a sleeping bag on it and there were some bags of food. Going to the bags, she checked the contents, finding cereal bars, cookies, potato chips and peanuts along with bottles of water and soda. A complete junk food diet but it wouldn't do her any harm for a couple of days. Mentally dividing it up she decided that there was probably enough for three or four days if they didn't supplement it with any hot food. Thinking about hot food made her aware of the temperature for the first time; even with her coat done up she was starting to get cold. She went and checked the small bathroom and came out wryly certain that the shopping had been done by somebody young as there wasn't any soap or a towel.  
As a psychologist, Gillian knew that it was important to try to become a person to her kidnappers as soon as possible, however, as the one who had to initiate things, she was petrified. Bracing herself, she went and knocked quietly on the door then stood back into the centre of the room and waited.

Cal gazed at the phone with something akin to hatred. He had phoned 'John Smith' at the Pentagon and had an extremely vague conversation, full of oblique generalisations, which he had cut short by saying,

'Cut the bullshit, Smith. Either you find out whether anyone from Gillian's time at the Pentagon is behind this or I'll tell the press what really happened in Paris.'

Smith had curtly promised to get back to him and Cal had ended the call without another word. Now he had to phone Emily. Part of him wanted to ring Zoe and let her break the news and if Emily had been younger, that's what he would have done, but she was an adult now and deserved to hear it directly from him. He took a deep breath, gritted his teeth and hit speed dial 1. It rang five times and then Emily's voice was saying,

'Dad? I'm about to go into class.'

'Em…I…'

'Dad?…Dad? What's wrong?'

'It's Gillian. She's been kidnapped.'

'Kidnapped! Oh my God! Use my college money. Use all of it. I mean it, Dad. You have to get her back!'

'Em, we…we don't even know if…'

Cal tried to swallow round the lump in his throat as he thought about all the hideous things that might be happening to Gillian if she'd been taken for revenge.

'What do you mean?'

'There might not be a ransom demand.'

'No! You have to find her, Dad!'

'I'm trying, Em. And, Em…'

'Yes, Dad?'

'I need you to promise me to be careful. In case it's aimed at me.'

'I will, Dad.'

'Don't go anywhere alone. In fact, make sure that you have at least two other people with you at all times. Psychopaths rarely attack groups of three or more.'

'All right, Dad.'

Emily sounded scared and Cal felt guilt surge through him followed by a wave of anger so intense that it left him shaking. Panting, he forced himself to say,

'It's just a precaution.'

'You be careful too, Dad.'

Cal paused with the easy, reassuring lie on the tip on his tongue, knowing that Emily would hear it and forced him self to give her an honest answer, saying,

'I'll try but I have to find Gillian.'

Emily sighed but said,

'I understand.'

'I love you, Em.'

'I love you too.'

They said goodbye and Cal sat for a minute trying to clear his mind before resignedly dialling Zoe's number. She answered after two rings,

'Zoe Landau.'

'It's Cal.'

'What do you want?'

'I called to give you a heads up. Gillian's been kidnapped. You and Emily need to take extra care in case it's aimed at me.'

'What? Who the hell have you annoyed now?'

'I don't know. It might not be anything to do with me.'

'Right. Except that it always is. Jesus, Cal! When did it happen?'

'About an hour ago. They snatched her as she arrived at work.'

'How?'

'Three masked men grabbed her and bundled her into an SUV.'

'At least they were masked.'

'Yes, they were.'

Cal allowed himself to be reassured briefly but then his analytical mind pointed out to him that the masks might have only been for the actual kidnapping itself. Feeling sick, he said,

'I have to go.'

'Cal?'

'Yes?'

'At least wait until they've made their demands before going berserk. It is possible that they only want money.'

Cal said goodbye to Zoe and hung up. Getting up, he started to pace as he thought about what Zoe had said. Annoyingly, she was right; if the kidnappers just wanted money, it was important not to spook them into doing something stupid. However, there were some things he could set in motion, including getting public opinion on Gillian's side. He left his office and went to reception. Anna looked up at him as he arrived and he could see that she was struggling not to start crying again. Reaching over, he gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze and said,

'Loker in yet?'

'Yes, Doctor Lightman. He's in the lab.'

'Right. Anna, can you find some good pictures of Doctor Foster, please? Happy ones, from parties and stuff? To give to the press.'

'Yes, Doctor Lightman.'

Anna's expression visibly lightened at the thought of doing something useful and Cal made a mental note to try to keep her busy.

In the lab, Eli Loker was scowling down at his computer as he typed furiously. Cal stood behind him and said,

'Got the security footage yet?'

'No. The police took the tapes away and my contact in DCPD hasn't got back to me yet so I'm trying to hack into the traffic camera system to see if I can find the SUV.'

'Let me know if you find something.'

Cal ignored Eli's muttered acknowledgement as went in search of Torres. He found her in the conference room, staring at the picture of Gillian on the wall. He ignored her melancholy expression because, after all, what could he say? Instead, he said,

'That journalist here yet?'

'Tiffany Swift?'

'Is that her name?'

'Yes. She'll be here with a cameraman in a few minutes. Are you going to do the interview in here?'

'Yes.'

They looked at each other in silence for a minute before Cal realised that his paranoia was tickling him,

'Torres, you still got Ben Reynolds number?'

'Yes, why?'

'Give him a call. Let him know that Gillian's been kidnapped.'

Torres nodded slowly and he knew that she understood the hidden message. As she left, one of the interns came in to say that Ms Tiffany Swift had arrived and where did he want her. Cal put on his game face and went to usher her in.

Twenty minutes later, the local news channel interrupted their daytime schedule to run Tiffany's interview with Cal. Cal let Tiffany take the limelight and tell everyone about Gillian's career and the kidnapping because there was only one thing he wanted to say. He waited until the camera was on him alone, then said,

'Whatever you want, I'll get it for you. Just, please don't hurt her.'

**Please review. Thanks**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I still don't own Lie to Me. (Just think of the fun I'd have if I did)

Chapter Four

Gillian took a deep breath as the door opened and one of her captors came in wearing a mask. He pointed his gun at her and said,

'What's your problem, bitch?'

Gillian ignored his hostile phrasing, knowing that it was simply macho posturing, designed to remind her who was in control. She replied quietly, saying,

'I need soap and a towel and some warmer clothes.'

'What?'

'There isn't any soap or a towel in the bathroom and my work clothes aren't warm enough for this room.'

'Why the fuck not?'

'My office is heated. I'm not wearing winter clothing. I wasn't expecting to be kidnapped, you know.'

Gillian injected a little wry humour into the last sentence and saw her guard's shoulders relax slightly. With his face covered she could only use his voice and overall body language in order to read him but fortunately he was making no attempt to control either. There was a pause before he grudgingly said,

'No, I s'pose not. What d'you need?'

'Just some sweatpants and a warm top. And some socks and slippers too, if you can.'

'I'll see what I can do.'

He turned to go and she quickly said,

'Medium for clothes and size 8 for slippers. Thank you.'

He paused but didn't turn back round, going out and locking the door and a moment later she was alone again. Gillian took several deep breaths, feeling relief washing over her. That had gone better than she had expected. Making demands when you were a hostage was dangerous and she'd braced herself to accept rejection, ridicule and possibly violence. So far though, it looked as though she was in a straightforward hostage-for-ransom situation, which was good because it meant that as long as she didn't cause trouble she would be all right. Gillian took off her shoes and sat on the bed, pushing her feet and legs into the sleeping bag, trying to get warm. Gazing round the bleak room she suddenly wondered if she'd ever see Cal again and the tears that she'd been holding back began to fall. Burying her head in her hands to muffle the noise, she cried quietly.

Cal tried to force himself to stay calm as he went to get an update from Loker. Unfortunately, he didn't feel at all calm. Gillian had been kidnapped and he didn't know what leads the police had or what angles they were pursuing and the FBI still hadn't turned up. He'd rung Wallowski and she'd promised to get back to him but she'd warned him that it might be a while as it wasn't her case.  
Banging the lab door closed behind him, he said,

'What have you got?'

'I haven't been able to get the police footage but I was able to hack into the bank's ATM machine camera. Someone really should tell them how lousy their security is, it was remarkably easy to get into.'

'Get on with it!' said Cal, impatiently.

He knew that Eli was babbling because he was upset but Cal needed to see what had happened now. Eli forced himself to stop talking and pushed the right buttons on his computer, saying,

'Here. The angle's not great but you can just about see what happened.'

Cal ignored Eli, focussing intently on the ATM camera footage. From a distance, he saw Gillian's car pull up and stop. Then as she got out, an SUV came racing round the corner and three masked men got out and grabbed her. Cal watched Gillian try to fight and then get dragged into the SUV, which then disappeared. Feeling nauseous, Cal said,

'Get that cleaned up and get as many close-ups of the attackers as you can. I want to know who these bastards are!'

Cal walked out of the lab without waiting for an acknowledgement and went over to Torres' desk. She was dividing files between the grad students, saying,

'Check that none of these have been released from prison. If you find one that has, come straight to me or Doctor Lightman.'

The grad students hurried off and Ria turned to tackle a much bigger pile of files. Cal sat on the edge of her desk and said,

'What's your method?'

Ria looked blankly at him before realising that he was talking about the files,

'I've given the grad students the ones that I'm sure we'd have heard about if they weren't still in prison, like that sick bastard Andrew Jenkins. I'm about to start going through the rest of the violent criminals that Doctor Foster has helped put away. After that, we'll go through the supposedly non-violent criminals. I hadn't realised just how many people Doctor Foster had helped to convict.'

'We've been doing it a long time now. Long enough for someone to be released if their crime wasn't that serious.'

'So, should I start with the non-violent criminals, then?'

'No stick with what you're doing. There are some right bastards in that lot and some of them are cunning enough to fool psychologists and parole boards into releasing them early. Let's make sure that none of them have.'

'Would any of them work in a team, though?'

'Mostly, no, but the men who kidnapped Foster might just be hired muscle.'

Ria and Cal exchanged unhappy looks. Neither of them had any illusions about how vicious people could be, both having experienced it first hand and neither of them wanted to imagine Gillian in that situation. Running a hand through his hair, Cal put his expressionless mask back in place, needing to feel in control of something and asked,

'Did you get hold of Reynolds?'

'Yes. He was going to make a couple of calls and get back to me.'

'Good.'

Cal nodded at her, glad that she and Loker were staying on task and wishing that he could think of anything else that they could do. Desperate to do something useful he grabbed half of the files from Ria's desk and started towards his office. Part way there, he realised that there was one useful thing that he could do and he made his way to the corner where his IT support team worked. They were discussing something but he interrupted them without preamble, saying,

'Can you trace all the phone calls coming into the office?'

'Not easily, no.'

'Why not?'

'We don't have the right software.'

'Can you get it? Now, today?'

'Perhaps…I might know someone…'

'Do it. If the kidnappers ring here, I want to be able to trace it.'

'Won't the FBI be doing that?'

'Yeah, in theory but those useless wankers couldn't run a piss up in a brewery so I want our own system in place.'

'Yes, Doctor Lightman.'

Cal left the IT team and walked back towards his office. As he passed the reception desk, Anna called him, saying,

'Doctor Lightman, I've chosen some pictures.'

Cal went over to Anna and looked at the pictures of Gillian that Anna had chosen. She had chosen four in total and in all of them Gillian looked relaxed and happy and extremely beautiful. Three of them had been taken at Christmas parties and one had been taken when they were celebrating completing a very lucrative contract. The three party pictures all showed Gillian at her very best; dressed in bright coloured, festive clothing and clearly enjoying herself, smiling happily at the camera. Cal tried to imagine the impact of each one on the general public and eventually decided. He pointed to the party picture from last year and said,

'Release that one to the press today.'

'Yes, Doctor Lightman.'

Anna went to turn her screen around but Cal stopped her, holding on to the screen with a death grip as he looked at the smiling face of the woman he loved. Why had they taken Gillian and not him? Because they thought that she would be easier to control? Or was it for a more sinister reason? The thought of what the kidnappers might be doing to Gillian filled him with cold horror and he found himself struggling to breathe past the pain he was feeling.

Anna watched helplessly as her boss quietly imploded before her eyes, his pain starting her tears flowing again.

**Please review. Thanks. 3**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I still don't own Lie to Me.

Chapter Five

Ria felt an overwhelming sense of relief as she closed her phone. Her and Lightman's fears that the FBI were dragging their feet for sinister reasons were unfounded. Talking to Ben, she had discovered that the problem was caused by Agent Dillon trying to use his political power within the bureau to manoeuvre himself onto the kidnapping squad. Ironically enough, on this occasion he was trying to help; he wanted to be on the case so that he could help them save Gillian. Apparently he had persuaded the director of the FBI to allow him to be attached to the kidnapping squad to act as liaison between them and Dr Lightman.

Anna gazed at Dr Lightman anxiously, wishing that she had knew how to help him. He had been staring at the pictures of Gillian for over fifteen minutes now, without saying a word and without looking away once. She had gone to pick up the phone to call Dr Foster to come and help, only to replace it helplessly. Dr Foster was the only one who could ever help Dr Lightman and she had been kidnapped and now Anna didn't know what to do. Just as she was about to dissolve into tears again she saw Ria coming towards her and heaved a sigh of relief. Ria glanced at Anna and read the emotions running through her easily; Anna never tried to shield herself. She looked at Dr Lightman and was shocked to realise that she could read his emotions too and the pain that she could see horrified her. Ria hurried over to him and said,

'I've just been speaking to Ben and the FBI are on their way.'

'What?' said Cal, not removing his gaze from the pictures of Gillian.

'The FBI should be here soon.'

'About bloody time!'

'Yeah, apparently Dillon insisted on being part of the team and the kidnapping squad got all stroppy about it.'

'So we get Dillon as well, do we?'

'Yes, lucky us. Where do you want them to set up?'

'Put them in the small conference room. Tell the IT team to give them anything they need.'

'Yes, Dr Lightman.'

Ria was about to leave but realised that he was still holding onto the side of the computer screen and staring at the photos. Reluctantly she said,

'Are those the photos of Gillian to be released to the press?'

'This one is,' said Cal, pointing to the to the picture that he had suggested.

'That's a really good picture,' said Ria, 'she looks so happy.'

'Yeah, she loves the Christmas parties. I can't be doing with all the bullshit myself.'

'That's because you're a miserable so-and-so,' said Ria.

Lightman turned and looked at her for the first time and Ria was relieved to see that his mask was firmly back in place; she could no longer read his emotions. Cal shot her a mock glare, then picked up the files and stalked off towards his office. He sat at his desk and forced himself to start going through the files, using his computer and where necessary, the phone, to confirm that none of the criminals had been released from prison. After thirty minutes he had started to get into a routine and was quite annoyed when he was interrupted by Eli knocking on his door,

'What do you want?' demanded Cal.

'The FBI are here and I've got some close-ups of the kidnappers.'

'Start analysing the close-ups. I'll come and help once I've spoken to Dillon.'

Eli left and Cal followed him out of his office, going into the small conference room.

There were four FBI agents in the small conference room, Agent Dillon and three people that Cal had never met before. When Cal came in, Dillon came towards him saying,

'Cal, I'm so sorry about what has happened. I assume that you haven't heard anything?'

'Thanks, Bernard. No we haven't heard anything yet. I'm hoping that the kidnappers will get in touch soon.'

Cal forced himself to pronounce Bernard the American way, even though it went totally against the grain with him not to annoy Dillon. However, at the moment his likes and dislikes were irrelevant, the only thing that mattered was whether Dillon could help him find Gillian. If this meant pandering to Dillon's ego then that's what Cal would do. Bernard took Cal over to the other FBI agents, saying,

'This is Agent Welsh, Agent Evans and Agent Williams.'

Cal shook hands with each agent in turn, saying,

'Pleased to meet you.'

The FBI agents all murmured sympathetic phrases, which Cal ignored. Once the pleasantries were over Cal turned Bernard and said,

'I'll leave you to get set up. Ask for anything you need. I'll be in the lab, Loker has got some footage of the kidnappers that we're going to look at.'

'I thought the police refused to give you the security footage,' said Bernard, surprised.

'Yeah, they did,' said Cal, 'he got some footage from the ATM machine across the road. Have you got the security camera footage?'

'Yes, I'll send it over to Loker's machine once we're set up,' said Bernard.

Cal nodded gratefully and left.

Gillian tensed as the door was unlocked. One of her captors came in with a carrier bag, which he tossed at her feet. Gillian realised from his clothing and body language that it was the same man that she had talked to earlier and glancing at the bag she saw clothes. She just managed to say,

'Thank you,'

before then the door was shut and locked again. She opened the bag and took out the contents. Her kidnappers had obviously decided that it wasn't in their best interests for her to be cold; they had bought her two sweatshirts and two pairs of sweatpants, a packet of thick socks and a pair of slippers as well as two towels and some soap. Gillian went into the bathroom and got changed, carefully folding her suit jacket and skirt before putting them neatly into the carrier bag along with her high-heeled shoes and stockings. She also took the opportunity to wash off all her make up. Looking in the mirror she saw somebody's scruffy aunt rather than the successful businesswoman that she had seen in the mirror this morning. She had deliberately asked for clothes that were slightly too big hoping to de-sexualise the situation. As a psychologist she was only too aware of the dangers that a woman who had been kidnapped faced and she wanted to make herself look ordinary. The clothes were from a cheap national chain store and were an unflattering shade of grey. The slippers were pink and fluffy. Altogether, her outfit shouted comfort rather than sex appeal. Feeling more relaxed as well as warmer Gillian went over to the bags of food and tried to decide what to have for lunch.

Cal spent the rest of the day analysing the ATM machine and the security camera footage with Loker in the lab. The kidnappers had worn ski masks so they concentrated on their clothing and any exposed skin. Slicing together the footage from different angles they determined that all three of the kidnappers had tattoos on their arms. Unfortunately, since it was November, they were all wearing long-sleeved clothing so only about half an inch of their tattoos were showing. However, after several hours work they had managed to put together an image of the bottom part of each man's tattoo and taking the different angles into account, all three tattoos were the same. Cal looked at the image on the screen and said,

'Get someone from the Gang Unit up here. We need to know which gang they're from.'

'Yes, Dr Lightman,' said Eli.

Cal ran his hand through his hair and scrubbed his other hand across his eyes tiredly as he tried to think what to do next. Just then, Anna came in carrying a pizza box in one hand and a drinks carrier holding coffee in the other. Putting them down on the table she said,

'I've brought you some food.'

'Thank you,' said Cal absently.

Anna looked at him anxiously and said,

'You need to eat, Dr Lightman.'

'Not feeling very hungry, I'm afraid, Anna.'

'But how will you help Dr Foster if you collapse?' Asked Anna.

Cal glared at Anna but he knew that she was right. Muttering under his breath about being mothered, Cal opened the pizza box, took out a slice and crammed it into his mouth, chewing hard. He had intended to stop there and make some sarcastic remark but his body betrayed him. As soon as he tasted the food, his body demanded more and he realised that he hadn't had neither eaten nor drunk since breakfast that morning. Eli came over and started eating too. Anna's anxious expression eased slightly and Cal couldn't resist the temptation to tease her, saying,

'You bucking for promotion?'

Anna smiled for a moment and said,

'No, I'm not a scientist. I'm happy where I am.'

Cal looked at Anna, reading her. As always, Anna was telling the truth. He had been surprised when Gillian had chosen Anna from all the interview candidates but as usual Gillian's instincts had been spot on. Anna was not unnerved by the fact that everyone she worked with could tell what she was feeling and could tell whether she was telling the truth or not. Cal touched Anna on her shoulder gently, saying,

'Get off home. There's nothing more you can do tonight.'

'Are you sure?'

'Yeah, get some rest. The press will be here in force tomorrow. You'll need all your strength to deal with them.'

Gillian paced the room trying to make herself tired enough to sleep. While it had been daylight, she had coped but now it was dark the full force of her captivity had come crashing in on her. She wanted to be at home reading a romance novel whilst curled up on her sofa or sat on Cal's sofa discussing a case. Instead, she was stuck in this small room for however long her captors decided to keep her. Gillian knew that she needed to stay calm and in control so she paced, using the physical activity to calm her racing mind. Suddenly she heard the key turn in the lock and the door was flung open. The light from a torch shone directly into her eyes and she squinted trying to make out the figure behind the torch. As she squinted an aggressive voice shouted,

'Stop fucking pacing, whore!'

Gillian froze.

'Get on your bed and stay there, bitch!'

As the man spoke he moved rapidly towards her. Gillian started towards the bed but before she could get there, the man reached her. She didn't see his hand until the last second so was unable to duck and the slap hit the side of her face, knocking her off her feet. Gillian let out a yelp of pain and stayed down, hoping to avoid more violence. He shone the torch in her face and she forced herself to look at the floor submissively, masking the rage she felt, instead showing him fear.

'Get up and get on the bed.'

His voice oozed smug satisfaction and Gillian felt fear slide down her spine as he followed her over to the bed.

**Please review. Thanks.**


	6. Chapter 6

Author's note: Thanks to everyone who's reading my fic. [hugs] I'd love to know what you think, please review.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Lie to Me.

Chapter Six

Gillian hurried over to the bed, sat down and jammed her feet quickly into the sleeping bag. Before she could lie down, the man put his hand over her face and pushed her down. He kept his hand over her face, pushing her down into the bed, saying,

'You don't move and you don't say anything. If you do I'll come and give you a proper beating. Do you understand?'

The man's voice was thick with arousal and Gillian knew that he was looking for an excuse to beat her again. Determined not to provoke him, Gillian nodded silently.

'That's right, bitch. You keep your mouth shut. There's only one thing that sluts like you should use their mouths for.'

He paused to let his words sink in and Gillian forced herself to remain perfectly still beneath him even as her heart sank. Intellectually she knew that being forced to give him a blowjob would be far preferable to being beaten or raped but her gorge rose at the thought. He moved his hand to cover her mouth and nose, cutting off her air supply, and said,

'I bet you like it rough. I bet being hit makes you hot. Maybe if you beg me, I'll give you what you want.'

Gillian, felt the tears start to roll down her face as she weakly shook her head beneath his hand.

'No? Maybe tomorrow night.'

He let go of her face and walked out of the room, slamming and then locking the door. Gillian gulped in air and started to shake. She turned her back to the door so that he couldn't see her face, then bit down on her sleeve to stop herself from swearing as anger and fear roiled through her body. For a long time she was helpless to control the emotions going through her and could only make sure that she was silent. Eventually the fear lessened and her tears stopped, leaving her furious, exhausted and sore. She gingerly touched her cheek and then delicately probed her cheekbone. Fortunately, it had been an open-handed slap so whilst she would have a bruise, there was no serious damage. Reassured that she didn't need medical attention, Gillian turned her mind to how to avoid a repeat. Unfortunately, she had very few options and all she could do was hope that she was supposed to be being kept in reasonable condition for ransom. Sighing, Gillian curled up on her side and tried to get some sleep.

Cal closed the file and leant back in his chair with a sigh, trying to convince himself that no news was good news. It was close to midnight and they still hadn't heard from the kidnappers. Intellectually he knew that kidnappers often waited before making their demands because it increased the fear and anxiety of those waiting to hear. Knowing it didn't make him feel any better though, particularly since they still weren't sure that there would even be any demands. At this moment, Gillian could be being tortured, raped or even dead. Thoughts of being asked to identify her mangled body made him want to scream and hit something, anything. Swearing, he punched the wall behind his desk, denting the plaster. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he made himself focus on what he could do. He had finished going through the files that he had taken off Torres' desk and all of the criminals listed were still in prison or dead so at least it wasn't any of them. Needing to distract himself from his endless thoughts of Gillian being hurt, Cal got up and went to Ria's desk. Ria was still sat there, patiently going through file after file. She looked up as Cal came over and said,

'Anything?'

'No.'

'Good. That means that the violent prisoners are all accounted for.'

'And the nutjobs?'

'They're all either in prison or secure psychiatric institutions.'

Cal felt something inside him relaxing very slightly. Gillian could still be in the hands of someone violent but there was probably a reason why she'd been taken, which meant that they might be able to figure it out. He took a stack of files from the pile on Ria's desk, saying,

'These some of the non-violent ones?'

'Yes.'

Cal turned and made his way back to his office. Sitting down, he opened the first file and started his checks again.

Cal started awake as someone knocked on his door. Peeling his face of the desk, he rubbed his eyes vigorously before saying,

'Come in.'

The door opened and Anna came in, carrying a large coffee and a bag of doughnuts. She put them on the desk and said,

'I brought you some breakfast, Doctor Lightman.'

'Thank you, Anna.'

Anna's expression was anxious and Cal could tell that she wanted to ask if there was any news but wasn't sure if she should, so he said,

'No news but we've ruled out all of the psychos and violent criminals that Doctor Foster helped put away.'

'So, she's probably just being held to ransom?'

'Hopefully, yeah.'

Anna looked happier and Cal hoped that he hadn't just lied to her.

After eating several doughnuts and drinking his coffee, Cal went to the bathroom and cleaned up a bit. Feeling merely terrible, Cal decided that he was ready to go back to work. On his way back to his office, he diverted to the small conference room to see if the FBI had any news. Going in, he found Bernard Dillon in a huddle with the other agents and said, eagerly,

'Have you heard something?'

Dillon came over to him, saying,

'Sorry, Cal, nothing yet. However, we do have some good news; the anti-terrorism squad have confirmed that this doesn't seem to be connected with any terrorist groups.'

'Yeah? That's good then. We've been going through our files, looking at the people Gillian helped put away and we've ruled out all of the psychopaths and criminals with violent tendencies.'

'That's good news,' said Bernard sincerely, 'Could it be connected with one of your current cases?'

'I don't think so. Foster's been helping an accountancy firm vet potential employees. Genuinely the most boring group of people you've ever met.'

'Did any of them make advances towards her?' asked Agent Williams.

'Probably,' said Cal, shrugging, 'People hit on Gillian all the time.'

'Anyone make her uncomfortable?'

'She didn't say anything to me. Torres has been working with her on it. I'll ask her if she thought anyone was looking at Foster in a predatory fashion.'

'Good,' said Williams, 'What about Doctor Foster's private life? Who's she seeing at the moment?'

'She's not seeing anyone at the moment.'

Williams gaped at Cal and Cal could see that he was genuinely amazed,

'She's not seeing anybody? A woman as beautiful as her! Are you sure?'

'Thing is you see, she's picky,' said Cal, 'and she's been hurt.'

'Even so. Are you sure that she would have told you if she were seeing someone new?'

Cal glared at Williams but grudgingly admitted,

'She might not have done if she had only just started seeing someone. But if she had a new fella, why would he need to kidnap her?'

'Perhaps he asked her to do something she didn't want to do?'

'And he hired a street gang to kidnap her?'

'It's possible. Girls make mistakes about men all the time.'

'Girls! Gillian is a woman not a girl,' said Cal, furiously, 'and she's a highly trained, intelligent professional. She also knows when people are lying to her. Yes, she's had some unsuccessful dates but there's no way that she would hook up with the sort of whack job that would kidnap her!'

'Psychopaths can be incredibly persuasive, Doctor Lightman.'

'Jesus fucking Christ! What the bleedin' hell do you think we do here, you cretin? We spend our time catching psychopaths out in lies. Foster isn't going to fall for some slick line from a nutjob. Besides which, psychopaths work alone, Gillian was kidnapped by a team.'

'Hmm,' said Williams dubiously, clearly unconvinced.

Before he could continue, Dillon stepped in, saying,

'Jim, Cal's right. There's no way Doctor Foster would fall for that sort of man. She's way too smart for that.'

Williams reluctantly subsided and Cal stormed out before he hit someone.

Ria looked up from her desk as Cal came up to her and invaded her space, saying conversationally,

'Do I look like a fucking idiot to you?'

'Not usually,' said Ria, calmly.

'That moron, Agent Williams, just suggested that Foster was secretly seeing a psychopath who arranged for her to be kidnapped. Now either he's too stupid be allowed out by himself or I'm an idiot. Which is it?'

'Williams is an imbecile,' said Ria without hesitation, 'Firstly, Foster's not seeing anyone at the moment and secondly, she would never let anyone like that touch her with a ten foot barge pole.'

'Thank you.'

Cal fidgeted for a minute before asking,

'Are you sure that Foster isn't seeing anyone at the moment?'

Ria goggled for a moment before saying,

'Yes.'

Cal looked at her critically, saying,

'What was that look for?'

Ria considered trying to deflect but what was the point? This was Lightman, after all. Resigned she said,

'Foster spends almost all of her time with you. How often do you have dinner together? Four or fives times a week? When would she have time to date anyone?'

'You saying I'm cramping her style?'

Ria rolled her eyes, wondering how someone so intelligent could be so stupid.

'Yeah, that's right,' she said sarcastically, 'she's spending all that time with you because she'd rather be somewhere else.'

'Oi! Cheeky.'

But Cal was smiling, reassured by Ria's attitude. If she'd been politely noncommittal, he would have known that Gillian was seeing someone without telling him. Remembering his other question, he said,

'Did Gillian have any problems with any of the people you've been vetting for that accountancy firm?'

'No, it's been fine.'

'No one been hitting on her then?'

'Yes, of course but no one's been creepy about it.'

'You're sure?'

'Yes. You know how good Foster is at politely turning people down. None of them reacted in an unusual way.'

'All right.'

Cal nodded at Ria, then grabbed another handful of files and went back to trying to distract himself whilst he waited for news.

Michael put on his mask and lifted the makeshift curtain over the window in the door so he could check the hostage. He had been told to make sure that nothing happened to her and Tyrell did not tolerate mistakes. She was sat on the bed staring into space with her arms folded across her chest. Michael's eyes travelled up to her face and he swore. Opening the door, he strode over to her and said,

'What the fuck happened to your face?'


	7. Chapter 7

Author's note: I've never been to Washington, DC so I picked some names randomly off a map so if I've made a howler, please forgive me. And… the evil plot bunny made me do it. I don't really enjoy leaving evil cliff-hangers. What's that you say, Cal? Ok, yes, that was a lie. I just can't help myself. :D:D

Disclaimer: I still don't own Lie to Me.

Chapter Seven

Gillian looked up sharply as the man charged into the room. From his body language and voice, she could tell that it was the same person that she had spoken to on the previous day. His words were full of dismay and Gillian suddenly felt hopeful that the actions of the man the night before had not been sanctioned, that abusing her might not be permitted. She met her captor's eyes and said quietly,

'Your colleague happened.'

'He hit you? Why?'

'I couldn't sleep so I was pacing. It annoyed him so he came in and hit me, then threatened to rape me.'

'Shit! How badly are you hurt?'

'Just a couple of bruises is all,' replied Gillian calmly.

'Do you need ice or Tylenol or anything?'

'No, it's just bruises. I'd love a coffee though.'

Michael looked at their hostage with grudging respect. She sat there with an enormous bruise forming on her face but didn't scream or cry, merely asking for some coffee. Michael turned to leave, saying,

'Maybe later.'

Michael re-locked the door behind him and then reach for his phone.

Cal finished going through the files that he had taken from Ria's desk. Several of the criminals in the files had now been released from prison but none of them were likely to have kidnapped Gillian, in his opinion. However, all of them would have to be tracked down just to be certain. He picked up the files of those that were out of prison and went to the small conference room. He handed the files to Bernard, saying,

'This lot have all done their time and are back out in the big wide world again. I don't fancy any of them for it but I guess we'll have to check them anyway.'

'I'll get some people on it,' said Bernard.

Cal nodded acknowledgement and went to the lab to check how Eli was getting on.

Eli was going through the security footage and adding the images to their composites of the kidnappers. It was slow and tedious work and honestly wasn't giving them anything much that they didn't already have. The kidnappers had all worn ski masks, jeans, long-sleeved sweatshirts and gloves. This meant that all they had to go on were occasional inches of skin here and there. He looked up as Cal came in, saying,

'Any news?'

'No,' said Cal tersely, 'Anything useful from the Gang Squad?'

'Four possible gangs in the DC area,' replied Eli, 'All four of them are street gangs suspected of being involved in a variety of criminal activities such a burglary, prostitution, human trafficking, armed robbery and selling drugs. Based on their ethnicity, the two most likely groups are the Kentucky and the Four Corners gangs.'

'Anything in particular those two specialise in?'

'The Kentucky gang mostly run prostitutes, with a little drug dealing on the side. The Four Corners gang are primarily drug dealers though they are suspected of being involved in a recent series of armed robberies.'

'Drugs, prostitution and armed robbery,' said Cal, pensively, 'What would they want Gillian for?'

'Perhaps they need our skills?' suggested Eli.

'Maybe,' said Cal dubiously.

'It's happened before, after all.'

'True. But why not come to us?'

'Too dangerous?'

'Or maybe they just want to force me to come to their territory.'

'That could be it. Or maybe they need Doctor Foster's particular skill set.'

'Hmm. Any chance of finding out which of the two gangs it is?'

'I'll see what I can do but there's not much to go on.' said Eli.

'See if DCPD or the FBI have any surveillance footage of the gangs. You might be able to match clothing or physical descriptions.'

'Yes, Dr Lightman.'

Cal wandered off in search of new distractions doing his best not to think of all the bad reasons for a street gang to have taken Gillian.

Gillian was dozing when she heard the door being unlocked. She sat up as her captor from earlier came in accompanied by another man. They were both wearing masks but from their body language she could tell that the new man was in charge. The new man came and stood in front of her looking intently at her face. Gillian knew that the bruise looked really impressive now. Her skin bruised quite easily and when she had looked in the mirror a couple of hours earlier it covered almost the entirety of the left side of her face and was a striking mixture of red, blue and purple. After a few seconds the man said,

'Tell me what happened.'

Gillian explained what had happened the night before, being completely factual and doing her best not to sound accusatory. He waited until she had finished speaking before saying,

'Do you have any other bruises?'

'My hand is slightly bruised,' said Gillian, showing him her right hand, which she had bruised breaking her fall.

'Do you need medical attention?'

'No, it was an open-handed slap. It looks worse than it is.'

The man turned to leave but Gillian said,

'Excuse me, please.'

'Yes?'

'What are the rules?'

'The rules?'

'Yes. Am I allowed to move around in here as much as I want as long as I don't try to escape?'

The man thought about it for a minute and then said,

'Yeah.'

'And are your people allowed to hit me? Without your permission, I mean.'

Gillian could tell from the man's body language that he was annoyed by her question but she wanted the answer out there. If she could be subjected to physical abuse at any time, then at least she could prepare herself mentally. Equally, if she were safe from physical abuse for now then she could relax a bit. He glared at her but eventually said,

'No.'

Gillian knew that she had pushed him as far as she could so she lowered her eyes submissively and said,

'Thank you.'

The men left and Gillian was alone with her thoughts again. She determinedly ignored her throbbing cheek and resolutely turned her thoughts to happy memories, closing her eyes and thinking about last Christmas.

Anna sighed as the switchboard lit up again. She'd been fielding calls from the media all day. At first it had just been the local media but the Lightman Group had become famous over the years so the national and international media had picked up the story and they all wanted to talk to Doctor Lightman. Doctor Lightman, naturally enough, didn't want to speak to them, which left Anna politely explaining that he was unavailable all day. At least it stopped her from dwelling on what might be happening to Doctor Foster. All the staff were desperately worried but Doctor Lightman and Ria both looked haunted. Anna knew that they had been going through the files and suspected that being reminded of the darker side of human nature was not helping them cope. Pressing the appropriate button, Anna said,

'The Lightman Group. How can I help you?'

Five minutes later she had promised an information pack, including photos of Doctor Foster, to an international news channel.

Cal was in his office staring at the wall when his cell phone rang. He answered it without looking at the caller id,

'Lightman.'

'I have Doctor Foster.'

Cal leapt off his chair and started walking quickly towards the small conference room, saying as he walked,

'Is she all right?'

'She's fine at the moment.'

Cal pushed the door of the conference room open and motioning the FBI agents to silence, put his phone on speaker, then said,

'What do you want?'

'I want Mario Carreri.'

'Who?' said Cal, blankly.

'Mario Carreri, Doctor Foster's boyfriend.'

'Oh, yeah, Mario. Sorry, mate, didn't hear you first time.'

'Bring him to me or she dies. Understood?'

'Understood. Just give me a couple of days to get him.'

'What do you need a couple of days for?'

'He's out of town at the moment,' said Cal, improvising wildly, 'Gets back tomorrow evening.'

'Forty-eight hours,' said the man and hung up.

Cal stared at the phone for a moment, then snatched it up and ran into the lab.

Eli looked up as his boss ran in followed by three of the FBI agents. He opened his mouth to ask what was going on but Cal forestalled him, saying,

'I need to know who Mario Carreri is. Now!'

Eli started a google search, asking,

'Why?'

'The kidnappers have made contact; they want to swap Foster for him.'

'Right,' said Eli, typing rapidly, starting another search on another terminal, this time on Facebook. He started to move on to a third terminal but then stopped, looking at the picture in front of him. He clicked on the image and watched in frozen silence as the page loaded. Alerted by his body language, Cal looked at the screen and then started to swear, using every single word in his extensive vocabulary.

**Please review.**


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I still don't own Lie to Me.

Chapter Eight

Gillian looked up as the door opened. A hand put down a large cardboard cup, some packets of cream and sugar and then withdrew. The door was closed and locked again before she had a chance to react. She went and picked up the cup, taking off the lid. Inside was coffee and Gillian felt her mood lift as she realised that her daytime guard had listened to her wistful request. She added cream and sugar, then replaced the lid and went and sat back down on the bed, feeling slightly more optimistic about her captivity.

Ria started awake, lifting her head from the desk. As she looked blearily around she heard Dr Lightman screaming obscenities at the top of his voice and realised that that was what had woken her. Listening for a moment, she realised that he was in the lab and made her way there. Lightman was staring at a computer screen whilst he swore. Looking around, Ria noticed that whilst the FBI agents were looking bemused, Eli was staring at a different computer screen with a sick expression on his face. She went and looked over Lightman's shoulder and froze as she saw a picture of Dr Foster arm-in-arm with the man that she had known as Dave Burns, though according to his Facebook page he was called Mario Carreri. Scanning the page quickly she discovered that according to Mario he and Gillian were in a relationship. Moving the mouse over one of the pictures, she realised to her horror that Dr Foster was tagged with her full name, making it easy for people to search for information about her on the Internet. She looked at Dr Lightman with a sinking feeling in her stomach; he would only be this upset if this had something to do with Dr Foster's kidnapping. She tried to catch his eye but his rage was all-consuming and he was oblivious to those around him. She turned to Eli but he had gone a peculiar yellow colour and although he met her eyes he seemed unable to speak. Reluctantly, she turned to the FBI agents and said,

'What's happened?'

'The kidnappers want to swap Dr Foster for that man, whoever he is,' said Bernard.

'Oh shit,' said Ria.

'Who is he?' asked Bernard.

'That's Dave Burns,' said Ria, 'Well, that's what he said he was called. He's a DEA agent. Dr Foster went out with him for a few weeks about a year ago. I don't understand why he says he's in a relationship with her now though.'

'It's worse than that,' said Eli hoarsely.

'What you mean?' asked Ria.

'How can it be any bloody worse?' demanded Dr Lightman, thrusting his face aggressively towards Eli.

Eli paled even more and Ria thought that he was about to be sick. Visibly shaking Eli said,

'He had a fake Twitter account too.'

Eli paused, gulped and then forced himself to say,

'He's been telling everyone in the Twitterverse that Dr Foster is the love of his life and that he wants to marry her.'

Ria looked at Eli in stunned disbelief, saying,

'He might as well have painted a target on her.'

Call pushed Eli roughly aside and quickly scrolled through the top twenty or thirty tweets. As he did he felt nausea flow through him; Ria was right, Dave might as well have given Gillian a neon sign saying 'Kidnap me' to hold. The tweets were all about how Dave adored her and wanted to marry her. Anyone reading them would certainly assume that Dave would do anything to get her back from her kidnappers. Unfortunately Cal knew that it was all fake. He knew that Gillian wasn't seeing Dave and hadn't seen Dave for months now. And there was no evidence that Dave had any feelings for Gillian whatsoever. Overwhelmed by his emotions, Cal picked up a chair and threw it against the opposite wall as hard as he could.  
The sound of the chair crashing against the wall brought Anna and the grad students running. The grad students gazed at Cal in alarm as he paced and muttered obscenities but Anna looked at the Facebook page in confusion, saying,

'How did he get my pictures?'

'Your pictures?' asked Eli.

'Yes,' said Anna, 'that's the picture that I took of Doctor Lightman and Doctor Foster when we got the two year contract from AMG and that's the picture I took at the barbecue last year. They've been photoshopped but I know that they're are mine; I recognise Doctor Foster's clothes and the backgrounds. Look, that's Dr Lightmans arm!'

Anna pointed at the screen and they realised that she was right; whoever had altered the pictures had not been very careful; whilst the face and body was Dave's, the arm around Gillian in both photos was clearly Dr Lightman's. In one of the pictures you could even see part of one of his tattoos.

'How did they get your pictures?' asked Ria curiously.

'I don't know,' said Anna, 'I didn't show them to anybody outside the office. Well, except for my mother and she doesn't even know how to turn a computer on so she couldn't have sent them to anyone.'

Cal heard Anna's words and it was like acid dripping on to his skin. With a muttered oath he started towards the door, saying,

'I'm going to go to the DEA and I'm going to rip those bastards a new arsehole and then I'm going to drag Dave bloody Burns in here and keep him locked up in the cube until it's time to swap him for Gillian!'

Bernard Dillon blocked his way saying,

'Cal, if you go storming in there and lose your temper they won't give you Dave Burns.'

'Fuck! What the bleedin' hell am I supposed to do then? Send them a bunch of sodding flowers and say pretty please?'

Cal brushed past Bernard and was amazed to find his way blocked by Sarah, one of the grad students. He glared at her, saying,

'Move.'

'Make a plan and call the lawyers,' said Sarah, her words very slightly mangled by her deafness, as always.

Cal sent her a baffled look, saying,

'Call the lawyers? Why?'

'You're not allowed to use people's images for purposes like this without their permission,' she explained, 'particularly not when you endanger the person by doing so. Dr Foster can sue them. And it seems likely that they hacked Anna's computer, which is illegal, so Anna can sue them too.'

'Yeah, well, that would be great if Gillian was here but she's not. We can think about suing the DEA once she's back.'

'No,' said Sarah, shaking her head vehemently, 'they'll take the pages down and there will be no proof. We need to get it all recorded before the DEA find out why Dr Foster was kidnapped.'

'Why bother? The only thing that matters is getting her back.'

'Leverage,' said Sarah.

Cal considered what Sarah was saying and nodded his head slowly,

'Loker, get the lawyers over here. Get the IT Guys to help you record everything.'

'Yes Dr Lightman.'

'I'm going to my office to think.'

Gillian grimaced as she rinsed out her underwear in the tiny sink and hung them to dry on the towel rail. There was very little chance of them drying by tomorrow morning but the thought of wearing them for another day without washing them made her skin crawl. In the meantime, she put on both sets of jogging bottoms so that at least she wouldn't feel so exposed. Tomorrow she would have to wash her blouse and at some point her new clothes would need washing too. She had considered asking her captors for extra clothes but didn't feel safe enough to discuss her underwear with them. And she knew that it would be unwise anyway, as it would remind them that she was a woman, a fact that she was fervently hoping that they would forget. Sighing, she brushed her teeth and went back into the other room. Climbing into the sleeping bag, she composed herself for sleep. It was ridiculously early but without a light source her only choices were to sit in the dark and worry or to sleep and as a psychologist she knew that sleep deprivation would only increase her feelings of fear and isolation.

Cal sat with his feet up on his desk and thought. The anger he felt had not dissipated but he had forced it down, making it go cold and hard. Without haste he thought about all the ways that this could play out and the consequences of each scenario for Gillian. After several hours, he had decided what to do. Letting his feet drop to the floor, he poured himself a scotch and walked to Gillian's office. Sitting on her sofa, he raised his glass in a toast, saying mockingly to the empty office,

'To fools. And their angels.'

**Please review.**


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I still don't own Lie to Me (Gillian and Cal would be on their honeymoon by now if I did).

Chapter Nine

Gillian started awake as a torch shined in her face. As she remembered where she was she froze, knowing that any movement could be unwise. As she squinted up against the torchlight, the man holding the torch said,

'Hello slut. I thought I'd come and see how you were tonight.'

Gillian felt fear beginning to stir but forced herself to remain impassive as her tormentor from the night before continued,

'Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. Well, not yet. Once the negotiations are over, you're mine and then we're going to have a really good time. Well, I am anyway. I'm going to fuck you and then kill you. I'm going to enjoy killing you, after I've had fun for a few days, that is. I've been going on the Internet looking up ways to kill people slowly. It's amazing how many ways there are to kill people.'

It took all of Gillian's self-control not to react, not to tell him what she thought of his sick game. Instead she lowered her eyes submissively, hoping to convince him that she was helpless. It seemed to work as he laughed and then said,

'Good night, Sweetheart. See you tomorrow.'

He strode out of the room slamming the door behind him making Gillian jump.

Shaking as adrenaline rushed through her system, Gillian forced herself to take slow deep breaths until she could think clearly again. Calm again, she forced herself to dissect what he had said, going over in her mind the tone of voice and the word pattern that he had used, analysing it for truth. She very quickly realised that he had been lying about her being turned over to him once the negotiations were over. Unfortunately he had not been lying about wanting to rape and kill her or about having looked up ways to kill people slowly on the Internet. Sighing, Gillian stared into the blackness and considered possible ways to get her abuser removed from guard duty.

Cal was holding Gillian in his arms, stroking her hair and then running his hand down her naked back. She lifted her face to his and they kissed passionately. They began to caress each other, slowly and tenderly and Cal felt his heart swell with love even as his body was consumed with desire.  
Even as Cal could feel Gillian moving in his arms, his conscious mind intervened, reminding him that Gillian had been kidnapped and he woke with a start, finding himself lying on Gillian's sofa, holding a cushion tightly to him and shaking with arousal. With a groan, Cal let go of the cushion and sat up, running his hand over his face as he tried to get his arousal under control. After several fruitless minutes he forced himself to think of Bernard naked and the image was enough to calm his body down.  
Thinking about Bernard reminded him of the plans that he had made the night before and he made himself to go through them once again, checking to see if he'd left anything out. Temporarily satisfied, he staggered back to his office and collected his car keys then headed home to shower and change knowing that Plan A required him to appear calm and professional.

Gillian woke feeling grumpy and out of sorts. She went over to the bags of food and found some chocolate coated cereal bars for breakfast. Having eaten she went into the small bathroom and cleaned up as well as she could. Walking back towards the bed she realised that her mood had not improved and she was feeling bloated. With a sinking feeling, she sat on the bed and started counting on her fingers.

Cal was back in the office in good time to waylay Bernard Dillon when he arrived. He led him into his study, inviting him to sit on the sofa and offering him coffee. Bernard looked at him slightly warily and Cal smiled ruefully, saying,

'Thanks for stopping me last night, mate. I would have made a right pig's ear of it if I'd gone to the DEA then. Bull in a china shop and all that.'

'That's all right, Cal. I'm not surprised that you were angry, what they've done is outrageous.'

'Yeah, it is. And the problem is that every time I think about, it I get so mad that I can hardly see straight. So here's the thing…'

'Yes?'

'I think you should go and talk to the DEA without me.'

Bernard looked at Cal in surprise for a moment but then slowly nodded his head, saying,

'You're right. They are much more likely to co-operate with a request from the FBI than one from a private individual.'

'That's exactly what I was thinking.'

'I'll go over there this morning. Hopefully, I can talk to this guy Mario or whatever his name is, and we can start planning.'

'I had a few thoughts about that actually,' said Cal.

Cal explained Plan A to Bernard and Bernard nodded appreciatively, saying,

'That should be virtually foolproof.'

'So you'll put it to him?'

'Definitely. This way we get Dr Foster back and we catch the kidnappers with minimal risk of anybody getting hurt. It's a great plan.'

'Yeah, well, I am a genius.'

Bernard let that pass with just a raised eyebrow, knowing that much as it irked him, Cal was telling the simple truth.  
Cal watched Bernard walk optimistically out of his office and wished that he felt optimistic too. Unfortunately, Plan A relied on everyone behaving not only sensibly but on several key people behaving in an altruistic manner as well. Even though he habitually bet on 00 in roulette, Cal would not have been willing to put a single cent on Plan A coming to fruition, which was why he had Plans B, C and D ready to go. He would have liked to have had Plans E, F and G ready too but unfortunately if Plan D failed, he was unlikely to be alive to help Gillian any more. Shrugging fatalistically, Cal went to talk to the company's lawyers.

Gillian waited until mid-morning then knocked on the door to the room and went and stood in the middle of the room, as she had done before. When the door opened, she heaved a sigh of relief; it was the same young man as the day before. He looked her over, checking her for more damage she realised, before saying impatiently,

'What?'

'I need tampons. By the end of today.'

'What? No way! I am not buying you tampons!'

'Well there's going to be a revolting mess if you don't,' said Gillian.

'Can't you just like, stop it or something?'

'If women could stop themselves from having periods, no woman would ever have one. I'm sorry, but I have to have them.'

'Fuck it! Why me?'

'Who else am I going to ask? The man who hit me?'

'I suppose not. I just never expected…'

'Well, what did you expect when you kidnapped a woman?'

'Not this.'

He paced unhappily and Gillian tried to keep her patience, reminding herself that she'd estimated her day guard's age to be seventeen or less and that he'd probably never had a sexual relationship. She waited for a few seconds then said quietly,

'Just get me a big box of mixed tampons.'

'But what am I gonna say? They aren't exactly going to believe that they're for me.'

'Say that they're for your Aunt Gillian, who's not feeling well and who's sent you out to get stuff for her. Buy me some ibuprofen as well then they'll assume I've got cramps. As you're buying for your aunt, they'll expect you to be embarrassed.'

'I guess that would work… A box of mixed tampons and ibuprofen?'

'Yes, please.'

The guard shook his head and left, saying,

'I can't believe I'm doin' this.'

As the door locked behind him, Gillian sank down on her bed shaking with relief. For one horrible moment she had thought that he would refuse and that she would have to try and have that conversation with the night guard, with unknowable but almost certainly unpleasant consequences. As it was, she was going to get what she needed and she'd started the process of becoming a full person to her day guard.

Cal had thought that his expectations of Bernard's meeting with the DEA had been low but when Bernard came back he was furious and Cal discovered that things had gone even more badly than he had expected.

'The bastards wouldn't even discuss the possibility of a swap!' said Bernard, tight-lipped with fury.

'What? Dave wouldn't even consider it?'

'I wasn't allowed to talk to him. Instead I had to listen to some pompous jackass tell me how it wouldn't be in the public interest for Burns to be swapped with Gillian. I pointed out to them that Doctor Foster had been instrumental in getting a significant number of criminals convicted and the idiot had the nerve to suggest that it didn't compare with what they did.'

'It doesn't. We put criminals away. The DEA leaves them on the street in the vain hope that they'll lead them to more criminals.'

Bernard would normally have pointed out that the DEA had had some spectacular successes but he was so incensed that he found himself nodding in agreement. It was a specious argument anyway; the DEA was supposed to protect members of the public not vice versa.

'Was Burns in the building?'

'I don't know…but Eddings, the imbecile I spoke too, definitely knows where he is.'

'Right. Time for me to pay Mister Eddings a visit,' said Cal ferociously.

'It won't do any good. He won't co-operate.'

'No, but maybe he'll let slip where my mate, Davie is.'

Bernard grunted doubtfully and Cal smiled widely, saying,

'It'll be fine. Who could resist my British charm?'

Cal put on his coat and slipped out, pausing in the lobby to say to Anna,

'Game on, luv.'

Anna nodded and Cal pushed his way through the doors and waited impatiently for the lift to arrive.

Tiffany Swift put down the phone with a delighted smile; it looked as though her week was about to get even better. Thanks to Doctor Lightman giving her an exclusive interview when Doctor Foster was kidnapped, her boss was already talking about a promotion and now she had a tip off about where the elusive Doctor Lightman was this morning. Apparently, Doctor Lightman was consulting with the DEA and would be leaving sometime in the next half an hour. Tiffany grabbed a cameraman and rushed down to DEA headquarters, checking her appearance on the way. They found a spot at the foot of the steps in front of the building and waited patiently. After ten minutes, the door opened and Doctor Lightman appeared, struggling between two burly security guards. The cameraman started filming instinctively and so obtained a perfect clip of what happened next. As the security guards let go of Doctor Lightman his feet got tangled with theirs and he rolled headlong down the steps, coming to a stop with his eyes closed a few feet away from Tiffany.

**Please review.**


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I still don't own Lie to Me.

Author's note: I'm not a psychologist so I've made it all up (in case you were in any doubt). Also, the evil cliff hanger fairy put the idea into my head. Mwahahahaha!

Chapter Ten

Tiffany rushed over to where Dr Lightman lay, apparently unconscious, closely followed by her cameraman. She reached him at the same time as the security guards, one of whom leant over Dr Lightman and said,

'Are you all right, Sir?'

Dr Lightman let out a groan and put a hand to his head without opening his eyes. Tiffany looked at the security guards and said,

'What happened?'

The security guards saw the camera and retreated hastily, saying,

'No comment.'

Tiffany turned her attention back to Dr Lightman and was pleased to see him opening his eyes. Making sure to present her best profile to the camera, she said,

'Dr Lightman, are you injured?'

Dr Lightman struggled into a sitting position and said

'Just a few bruises, darlin'. Nothin' to worry about.'

'What happened? Why were you being thrown out? Why were the guards so rough?'

Cal rubbed his hand across his face, then winced, saying,

'That wasn't the guards' fault. They were just doing their job.'

'But why were you being escorted out?'

'Because the DEA are a bunch of useless plonkers, that's why. Ridiculous waste of taxpayers money. Billions of dollars being spent by a load of middle-aged white men who spend their time pushing paper around and not achieving anything.'

'So you don't think the DEA are effective then?'

'Effective! My old granny would be more effective. They go into the deprived areas pretending to be youth workers, which by the way, means that all the genuine youth workers are completely shafted, and then they're surprised that they get made every single time. If they were serious about stopping drugs then they would recruit youngsters from the ghettos. That way they would get some agents who could actually find out who the major players are. Instead, they spend a fortune covering each other's arses and racking up expenses.'

Cal continued to rant, enjoying the opportunity to let out some of his anger. Tiffany smiled and nodded and made sure to ask leading questions so that Dr Lightman would continue to talk. After his rant had slowed down Tiffany asked him what he was going to do next. He smiled at her, saying,

'I'm going to find my mate Mario, buy him a few drinks and then take him to meet some friends of mine.'

Gillian was walking up and down in her room, trying to pretend that she was on an afternoon stroll when the door opened again. She smiled at the young man as he came towards her carrying a bag gingerly. He held it out to her, saying,

'There you go, Aunt Gillian.'

His tone was sarcastic but Gillian felt a thrill of achievement going through her at his words. He probably had no idea how significant it was for him to refer to her as his aunt, but Gillian knew that her chances of survival had just increased significantly. She advanced to meet him taking the bag from him and opening it to look inside. As well as the tampons and a packet of ibuprofen there were two large bars of chocolate. Starting to salivate slightly at the thought of the chocolate, Gillian smiled brightly at the young man, saying,

'What a lovely nephew you are. Thank you.'

The young man shuffled his feet, clearly embarrassed and said,

'Yeah, well, the girl at the checkout desk thought that you'd like some chocolate.'

'She was right.'

Gillian glanced swiftly at him again, accurately assessing his posture and hesitancy. Amused, she asked,

'Was she pretty?'

'Who?'

'The girl at the checkout desk.'

'Yeah.'

'Did you ask her out?'

'No. Buying… you know… it's not…'

'Not conducive to a romantic atmosphere?'

'Yeah.'

'I'm sure I can think of some other things I need. If you wanted an excuse to go back there, that is?'

'Maybe.'

He turned to go so Gillian said,

'Thank you again for getting these. I'm sorry that I had to ask you to.'

'S'all right.'

He left and Gillian resumed her exercise, determined not to let herself get completely out of shape.

Cal sauntered casually towards his car, making sure to limp slightly. Once he was safely driving away he left his mask drop slightly and grimaced; Edding's refusal to even see him meant that he was now on Plan C, which was not where he'd hoped to be. Driving rapidly back to the office he quickly ran through the elements of Plan C in his mind. By the time that he was walking through the doors he had his to-do list ready and laid out in his mind.

First he stopped off at Anna's desk, giving her a smile and a wink as he said,

'Keep an eye on the local news for me, luv.'

Anna smirked but said demurely,

'Yes, Dr Lightman.'

Cal's next stop was the small conference room. Bernard looked up expectantly as he walked in, saying,

'How did you get on?'

'Terribly,' said Cal, 'the bugger wouldn't even see me.'

'Damn. So you weren't able to find anything out then?'

'Fortunately for us, his secretary has one of the most open faces I've ever come across; Dave is in a safe house somewhere. Do you know where the DEA safe houses are?'

'No but I should be able to find out. I'll make some calls.'

Cal nodded and left.

He found Torres and Loker together in the lab looking at footage of the local gangs provided by the FBI and DCPD. They both looked up hopefully as Cal entered the lab. Ria read his frustration and anger and turned back to the footage without a word but Eli had never been able to read Cal so asked,

'Did you find him?'

'Not yet,' said Cal tersely, 'any luck narrowing down which gang it is?'

'Possibly,' said Ria, 'we've got one definite match to a member of the Four Corners gang.'

'It's not conclusive though,' said Eli, 'he could have changed gangs.'

'That's incredibly unlikely,' said Ria.

'True,' said Eli, 'but I don't feel happy going with just one definite identification.'

'How much more footage have you got?' asked Cal.

'A lot,' said Ria ruefully.

'Keep at it,' said Cal, 'I need to know for certain who we're dealing with.'

Eli and Ria turned back to the screen and started looking again.

Cal paced in his office for an hour, trying to put off the inevitable but eventually forced him self to pick up his phone and dialed. After just a couple of rings the phone was answered,

'Radar Associates, how may I help you?'

'I need to speak to Radar.'

'May I know who's calling?'

Cal forced down the urge to suggest that she try and guess, knowing that some PR moron had undoubtedly written the script that the switchboard operator was using; it wasn't her fault that she sounded like she'd shoved a broom up her arse.

'Doctor Cal Lightman.'

'Putting you through now.'

Cal waited impatiently, shifting from foot to foot. After a few seconds he heard Jack Radar's voice saying,

'Cal, any news?'

'Nothing I can share.'

'Right. What can I do to help?'

'I need a source inside the DEA.'

'I…'

'Do you have one or not?'

'No. The DEA have never used us. I assumed that they used you whenever they needed deception detection.'

'No. The only time we approached them they told us that they had no need of our services. Crap!'

'I'll ask around. I take it it's urgent.'

'Yeah. Couldn't get any more bloody urgent, in fact.'

'I'll call if I get anything.'

Cal hung up without saying anything else. He knew that he ought to thank Radar but the words stuck in his craw. Besides, they both knew that Jack Radar wasn't doing it for him but for Gillian who he both respected and desired. Cal had no problem with the respect but he had been extremely unhappy when Radar had started sending Gillian flowers and inviting her out to dinner. As it happened, Gillian had not been interested, which was fortunate as it had saved him from having to explain exactly why he and Radar had gone their separate ways. Radar had been disloyal, underhanded and dishonest but Cal had handled the situation atrociously, causing a minor problem to escalate until the fallout affected everyone involved. It was one of the ways in which Gillian was so amazing; she could mediate without patronising or taking sides.

Thinking about Gillian made him realise that he was procrastinating again. Knowing that he was about to sell his soul, he picked up his phone and dialled again, eventually being put through to 'John Smith' at the Pentagon. He cut through John's insincere enquiries about how he was holding up, saying,

'I need a list of all of the DEA's safe houses.'

'That might be possible…'

'One mission. Europe or USA.'

'Three missions, Middle East.'

'You have got to be bloody joking, mate! I'm too old to survive three missions in the Middle East. I'd be bloody lucky to survive one.'

'Two missions. One Europe, one wherever I choose.'

'Agreed.'

'I'll get the list to you by the end of the day.'

Cal ended the call and began to pace his office again, stopping every five minutes to check his emails.  
Two hours later a courier dropped an envelope at Reception containing a list of addresses in and around DC. Cal took the list into the small conference room and handed it over to Bernard, saying,

'This should be a list of all the DEA safe houses in DC.'

Bernard looked knowingly at Cal and said,

'I assume that I don't want to know how you got this?'

'Bloody right you don't. Let's just say that the tooth fairy bought it shall we?'

'How reliable is this tooth fairy likely to be?' asked Agent Williams sardonically.

'About as reliable as a crooked realtor but since he wants me to do something for him, the list is probably accurate.'

'Right, let's start figuring out how to get into all of these addresses as quickly as possible then.'

Gillian woke as the door to her room opened and the now familiar figure of her tormentor came in. He came over to the bed and shined his torch in her eyes, saying,

'Hello, slut. Miss me?'

Gillian stayed quiet and lowered her eyes submissively, showing him fear, hoping to appease his lust for power. He sniggered and said,

'I thought we'd play a game tonight.'

Gillian's eyes snapped up to his in horror as he pulled a cushion out from behind his back and leant over.

**Please review.**


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I still don't own Lie to Me.

Author's note: This is quite a dark chapter but it does get better, Brownies honour.

Chapter Eleven

Gillian started to sit up, to try to get away from her abuser but she was tangled in the sleeping bag. He pushed her effortlessly back down onto the bed and grabbed her hands in his, pushing them above her head. Gillian arched her back and swung her legs trying to get off of the bed but he grabbed her legs with one of his hands and pushed her back onto the bed, swinging astride the bed and sitting on her hips, immobilising her. She lashed out with her free hand but he caught it and pulled it back over her head. He pulled her hands together and held them both in one of his, crushing her wrists together. Laughing, he reached down to where he had dropped the cushion and picked it up, saying,

'Take a deep breath, slut.'

Gillian desperately inhaled as he brought the cushion down onto her face pushing hard. She bucked and writhed against him, knowing that he was enjoying her struggles but unable to stop herself as he pushed more firmly on the cushion. Gillian could feel panic nibbling at the edges of her mind but she forced it back, making herself think rationally. He was probably not going to kill her tonight; he'd said that he wanted to draw it out over several days. By using a cushion he would leave no marks on her face so the important thing to do was to make sure that he marked her elsewhere. Gillian pushed upwards with her hands as hard as she could and he reacted as she had expected, tightening his grip on her wrists painfully. Gillian's lungs were aching and she knew that she would have to exhale in a few seconds and that once she had done so she would start to become light headed so she forced herself to pull even harder at her hands. He tightened his grip even more and Gillian felt pain searing through her wrists. Gillian was forced to exhale and when she was unable to inhale she couldn't fight the panic any longer and she fought hysterically until her strength gave out. Just as she was about to lose consciousness the cushion was lifted off her face. Gillian frantically gulped in air, lying limp and helpless in his grasp. After a few minutes, she stopped panting and felt her strength starting to return. He was still sitting astride her and even in the dim light from his torch she could see that he was aroused. With a feeling of dread she watched as he raised the cushion and as he covered her face again, she wondered whether or not she was going to survive the night after all. To her surprise however, this time the cushion was removed more quickly, almost immediately after she had exhaled, in fact. Puzzled, she waited for his next move, being careful to keep her face full of panic and fear. He got off her hips and then released her hands, saying in a voice thick with arousal,

'That was fun. I think we'll play that game again tomorrow. Don't go escaping on me, will you?'

As Gillian's oxygen starved brain tried to make sense of what he was saying, he turned and swaggered to the door, slamming it behind him. Even as Gillian realised that he had not locked it, she heard his footsteps noisily retreating. Deeply suspicious, Gillian sat up so that she could hear more clearly and was rewarded by hearing him trying to creep back quietly. Gillian bit back a smile as she realised what he was trying to do; he had clearly been told not to hurt her so was trying to goad her into making an escape attempt. He presumably believed that if he injured her whilst she was trying to escape that he wouldn't get into trouble. Gillian smirked as she realised that he was trying to play cat and mouse with her; she might not have Cal's consummate skill but she was quite certain that she could outwit him. Gillian curled up on her side, ignoring her aching head and shaking hands, and began to plan. After a couple of hours she had decided on a working plan. First, since her abuser wanted to goad her into trying to escape, it was important that he think that she was considering it. Gillian got out of bed and crept to the door and rattled the door handle, turning it very slightly before releasing it and going back to bed. Smirking in the darkness, Gillian settled down to get some sleep.

Cal paced his office impatiently, waiting to find out how many of the DEA safe houses the FBI had managed to get into. He had been banned from the small conference room less than three minutes after he'd persuaded Agent Williams to play 'Two truths, one lie' with him. Ten seconds after he had returned from the bathroom, Bernard Dillon had ushered Cal out of the room, saying to Agent Williams,

'Are you insane? Do you want him to know every secret you've ever had?'

Cal had smirked at Bernard, saying,

'Just trying to keep my hand in.'

Bernard had ignored Cal's obnoxiousness, knowing that the tension had Cal spoiling for a fight, saying,

'I'll come and get you as soon as there's any news.'

Cal had drunk some Scotch but it had just made his mood darker. Gillian was running out of time. If they didn't find Dave Burns before the forty-eight hours was up, the kidnappers might kill Gillian out of hand. Cursing, Cal went into the lab where Ria and Eli were still looking at footage of gang members. They ignored him and Cal felt a tiny surge of optimism as he realised that they were waiting for the computer to confirm a match. Leaning over Loker's chair, he said,

'What've you got?'

'If this is a match, then we'll have confirmed that two out of the three kidnappers are members of the Four Corners gang.'

Cal gritted his teeth as the computer slowly ran through all the parameters. Finally, the words, 'Positive match' came up on the screen and Cal felt a surge of relief going through him. They knew who had Gillian, which meant that he could negotiate with them.

'Find out everything you can about the Four Corners gang, particularly the current leader. And find out what Burns did to piss him off.'

'Yes, Doctor Lightman,' said Eli and Ria nodded her head in confirmation.

'Then go home and get some sleep.'

'Sleep?' said Eli incredulously.

'Well, in your case, Loker, I'd have a shower first. You're starting to smell a bit ripe, if you know what I mean.'

'What about you? Are you going to get some sleep too?' asked Ria.

Cal glared at Ria but she held his gaze, refusing to back down, saying,

'You won't be able to help Foster if you're completely exhausted.'

The only riposte Cal could come up with was,

'You pregnant or something, Torres? Cos you're starting to sound like a den mother.'

And he was not surprised when Ria merely looked amused rather than intimidated.

Irritated, Cal went back to his study and threw himself moodily down on the sofa. He knew that Ria was right, he needed to get some sleep but how could he when all that he could think about was Gillian in the hands of a group of vicious thugs. Gritting his teeth, he forced away the ugly images, reminding himself that Gillian had written the latest CIA handbook on surviving being a hostage; she probably had them waiting on her hand and foot by now. Comforted by the reminder of Gillian's expertise, Cal drifted off to sleep.

He was woken the next morning by Agent Williams gingerly touching his shoulder and calling his name. One look at Williams' face was enough to tell Cal that it wasn't good news.

'Did that bastard give us dud addresses?' he asked.

'No, the problem is that we can't get into them. The DEA personnel won't let us inside any of them. Not even when we plead urgent FBI business.'

'Whatever happened to inter-agency co-operation?'

'The DEA don't seem to believe in it. Dillon's on the phone to our director now asking him to make an official complaint.'

'And in the meantime, we're no closer to finding bloody Burns!'

'No. I'm sorry.'

'Not half as sorry as I am, mate.'

Williams left and Cal scrubbed his hands across his face, feeling his stubble rasp across his palms. Blearily, he booted up his laptop and logged in. There was an email from Loker and as Cal read it he felt a glimmer of hope; there was a way that he could help the leader of the Four Corners gang. The leader's name was Tyrell Smith and three weeks ago his mother had had her hip replaced at Washington General. When Tyrell had gone into see her, Mario aka Dave aka who knows, had been waiting along with several other DEA agents. Tyrell had spotted Dave, smelt a rat and run, but he'd been unable to pay his mother's hospital bill and the hospital had given her until three days from now to find the money or they'd send her home. Loker and Ria had discovered that Tyrell had been sending one of his female gang members in with a couple of thousand in cash each day, but the DEA had eventually spotted her (Eli had underlined the 'eventually' and Cal could tell that he couldn't believe that it had taken them so long to figure it out).  
Cal quickly read through the rest of the information, memorising everything, then sat back with his feet up on his desk as he incorporated it all into Plan D.  
Half and hour later, he got to his feet, ready to put Plan D into action. The first thing he had to do was ditch the FBI. With a smirk on his face, Cal headed for the small conference room.

Gillian woke aching all over. She had pulled muscles fighting with her tormentor, she was tired and her head ached. And her regular-as-clockwork cycle had arrived. Extremely thankful that she had asked for some ibuprofen the day before, Gillian climbed slowly out of bed and headed to the bathroom.  
Once she'd washed and put her clammy underwear back on, she ate chocolate for breakfast and thoughtfully examined her wrists, which were already going multicoloured. Gillian rolled her cuffs over to make sure that the bruises were clearly visible, then sat on the bed with her arms wrapped round her legs and gazed thoughtfully at the wall, waiting.  
Half an hour later, the door opened and her daytime guard came in carrying a cup of coffee. He held out the coffee to her, saying,

'So, what do you need me to buy you today, Aunt Gillian?'

Gillian smiled gently at him and reached out for the coffee, saying,

'Thank you. A hairbrush would be great.'

She took the coffee and popped the lid off and added sugar and creamer, casually pushing her sleeve back to keep it out of the way. She heard his startled intake of breath and looked up as he said,

'How did you get those marks on your wrist?'

'Your colleague likes to play games.'

He looked questioningly at her and she quietly explained what had happened.

'Fuck! That's sick!'

She could tell from his voice as well as his body language that he was genuinely horrified and she relaxed slightly. He paced the room for a couple of minutes and Gillian could tell that he was trying to decide what to do. When he went to leave the room without saying anything else, she said,

'If he isn't stopped, he'll kill me.'

He paused and said,

'Hold out your hands.'

She did so and he used his phone to take photos of her bruises before leaving.

Gillian sipped her now lukewarm coffee and tried to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach. She had done what she could, now all she could do was wait. Sighing, she pulled the sleeping bag over her for warmth and started thinking about her complicated relationship with Cal. For a long time she'd been telling herself that she could never be more than friends with Cal but being without him, just for this short a time, made her feel as though a limb had been cut off. It was time that she stopped lying to herself.

Tiffany briefly wondered why her source was telling her Dr Lightman's whereabouts but then shrugged off her doubts; it was probably just a disgruntled employee. Smiling happily, she collected her cameraman and headed for the J. Edgar Hoover building, delighted at the thought of another exclusive.

**Please review. 3**


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I still don't own Lie to Me.

Chapter Twelve

Tiffany hurried towards the steps of the J. Edgar Hoover building, determined to get another interview with Dr Lightman. As she came around the corner, she saw Dr Lightman arguing with three other men, all of whom looked like FBI agents. Motioning to her cameraman to start filming, she carefully kept out of shot whilst moving quietly closer. Experience had taught her that the sight of a camera was enough to end the most acrimonious of arguments and from what she could hear this one was a doozy. Determined to get this on the news, and secure her promotion, Tiffany walked slowly so that the sound of her heels wouldn't cover their voices. By the time that they could hear clearly, the argument had heated up even more and Tiffany smiled gleefully (off camera) as Dr Lightman said,

'You're all idiots! A bunch of five year-olds could do better.'

'Cal, calm down. You need to let us do our jobs.'

'Do your jobs? You mean sit around and fill out expense claims whilst Gillian rots?'

'Now you're just being ridiculous! We're doing our best to find her. You just can't accept that you have to be patient.'

'Have to be patient? Is that what you tell your wife, is it, Bernard? When she wants to have sex?'

'What? Leave my wife out of this!'

'Sore point, is it? Having problems in the bedroom, are you?'

'No, we are not.'

'Oh, she likes having a dickless wonder for a husband, does she?'

'You bastard!'

'Tell her to come and see me if she wants to get some. I'm sure she'd like to know what an orgasm feels like.'

Tiffany watched enthralled as the FBI agent punched Dr Lightman on the face. Cal immediately retaliated, punching Bernard in the stomach. The next few seconds were a blur as the men fought but they were soon pulled apart by the other FBI agents. Thirty seconds later, it was all over; the FBI agents went into the building dragging Bernard with them, and Dr Lightman started down the steps. Tiffany hurried over to him and said,

'Dr Lightman, would you care to make a statement?'

'Not today, darlin'. I'm too bleedin' angry.'

'Why are you so angry?'

'Because I'm fed up of being messed about by a bunch of jackasses, that's why.'

'By jackasses do you mean the FBI?'

'If the cap fits…if you know what I mean.'

'So, are you still…'

'Sorry, darlin', gotta go. Need to see a man about a dog and all that.'

Tiffany followed Dr Lightman to his car but he ignored her questions, simply getting in the car and driving away.

Cal made sure that he wasn't being followed then drove to a nearby car park and pulled in. He took out his phone and pressed speed dial 1. After several rings, Emily answered,

'Dad? I'm meant to be in class.'

'Then why aren't you?'

'I was but when I saw it was you, I pretended to be sick. Have you found Gillian yet?'

'Working on it. You've paid this year's tuition, haven't you?'

'Yes and my rent.'

'How much you got left in your college fund, Em?'

'Just over seventy-two thousand dollars.'

'Have you got a pen and paper?'

'I was just in a lecture, Dad, of course I've got pen and paper.'

'Right. Here's what I need you to do…'

Ten minutes later, Cal hung up and got out of the car. Sighing deeply, he reminded himself that this was for Gillian and walked to the bank. Gritting his teeth, he went in, put on his most charming smile and asked to see the manager. An hour and two phone calls later, he left, resisting the urge to spit on the pavement. He could deal with psychopaths and murderers without any problems but ten minutes with a bank manager and he wanted to hit someone, usually the bank manager.  
Thinking about spitting reminded him that he hadn't eaten or drank for hours so he went into the nearest coffee shop and got himself a sandwich and a coffee and a soda to go. Waiting in line, he found himself automatically turning to ask Gillian what she wanted and her absence hit him again and he clenched his fists as he felt sorrow run through him. Telling himself that it was just lack of food, he swallowed hard, forcing his emotions down. He had to save Gillian; his emotions could wait.

Gillian woke as the door opened and her daytime guard came in. She had fallen asleep, exhausted from the night before and she rubbed her eyes blearily as she sat up. The guard's posture was relaxed as he handed her a hairbrush, saying,

'There you go, Aunt Gillian. Hope it's the right type.'

Gillian glanced at the hairbrush, which was wooden with bristles on one side, and replied gratefully,

'That's exactly what I wanted. Thank you.'

'Cool.'

He hesitated and fidgeted a bit before saying,

'He won't be back.'

Gillian felt hope bloom,

'My night time guard?'

'Yeah…I mean, there'll be someone guarding you, yeah, but it won't be him.'

'Thank you. I know it was difficult for you.'

Gillian reached out and gently squeezed his arm. He shrugged, saying,

'Well, what he did, it wasn't right. And anyway, we aren't supposed to be hurting you, not if we can help it. T…I mean, the boss, was really pissed off.'

He drew in a shocked breath as he realised his slip and Gillian hastened to reassure him,

'There are a lot of names that begin with T: Thomas, Terry, Ted, Toby, Travis to name a few, and I'm sure there are others. Without the rest of it, it's useless for identification.'

He relaxed slightly and she continued,

'And I haven't seen any of your faces, so I can't identify you.'

Gillian reassured herself that she wasn't actually lying; any identification she made based on voice alone would get torn apart by any defence attorney so the fact that she never forgot a voice was irrelevant. He relaxed a bit more and she hastened to change the subject, saying,

'How did you get on with the check out girl?'

'She came and helped me choose a hairbrush for you.'

'And?'

'She's really fine. Not just pretty but, you know, nice.'

'Did you ask her out?'

'I wanted to but I didn't know what to say.'

'How about offering to buy her a coffee? Low key but says that you're interested.'

'But don't girls want to be taken out to dinner and shit?'

'Yes but with a man she barely knows she might be reluctant to say yes to dinner for your first date whereas coffee is much less intimidating.'

'Less intimidating?'

'Yes, going out for dinner can be quite intimidating; you've got to buy the right outfit, have your hair done, get your make-up right, practice walking in your heels. And that's before you've even left. Never mind all the worries about what to choose to eat and whether or not to offer to pay. Coffee though is easy; you just put on a smart top with your best jeans and it's okay to let the man pay because it won't be much anyway.'

'So she won't think I'm cheap?'

'Not if you explain that you're suggesting coffee because you want to give her a chance to get to know you better before you ask her out on a proper date.'

'Yeah, that could work. Thanks, Aunt Gill.'

'You're welcome. Let me know how you get on.'

'I will. You need anything else?'

'I'd love a hot meal.'

'Sure, I'll go and get us a burger. What d'you fancy?'

'Cheeseburger, fries, onion rings, coffee and dessert if they do it, please.'

'Got it.'

He left and Gillian felt the large knot in her stomach begin to dissolve. Her abuser would not be returning and she was bonding with her daytime guard. And she knew that the name of the leader of the kidnappers began with T and definitely wasn't any of the names she had said. Her new nephew was very easy to read even with his mask on. She had a hairbrush and she was getting dessert; the day was looking up.

As Cal munched his sandwich, he dialled Loker's number,

'Yes, Doctor Lightman?'

'Loker, I'm going to be busy for the rest of the day. You and Torres get back on the outstanding cases.'

'The outstanding cases? But Doctor Foster…'

'Doctor Foster will appreciate there being a company for her to come back to.'

'I guess,' said Loker dubiously, wondering what Dr Lightman was really getting at.

'Just do it, Loker. I don't have time to argue with you.'

'Right.'

Cal hung up and carried on walking, looking casually around noting where everyone was at all times and making sure that he wasn't being followed. After half an hour he reached his destination and stood still on the corner whilst he decided on the best approach. Shrugging, he decided that he would just have to hope for the best. He'd deliberately come unarmed knowing that bringing a gun would just make it more likely that he'd be shot. Swaggering, he walked past a group of young men, checking their wrists for tattoos. Seeing glimpses of ink under their sleeves that matched the kidnapping footage, he swerved mid-step and deliberately invaded their personal space, saying,

'Hello, lads. All right? Tyrell about?'

'Who?'

'Tyrell Smith.'

'Never heard of him.'

'Well when you do happen to hear of him, tell him Doctor Cal Lightman's here and wants to talk to him.'

Cal casually nodded then went and stood on the nearest corner and waited. He watched, smirking, as one of the men took out his phone and talked urgently into it. Five minutes later, he was in the back of a car with a bag over his head, holding on to the door handle for grim death as the driver sped through the city at reckless speed. Eventually, the car stopped and Cal was pulled out of the car. The bag was removed from his head and Cal found himself staring at the barrel of a gun. The man holding the gun released the safety and said,

'Want to give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you?'

**Please review.**


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I still don't own Lie to Me.

Chapter Thirteen

Cal spread his hands placatingly as he looked round. They were in a car park next to an abandoned warehouse. Cal made a note of the surrounding buildings in one lightening-fast glance before turning back to the man holding the gun. From information provided by DCPD, Cal knew that this was Tyrell Smith so at least he was dealing with the organ grinder and not one of his monkeys. Cal made eye contact with Tyrell but kept his posture submissive as he said,

'Because you're a businessman and I've got a business proposition for you.'

As he said it, Cal hoped that he'd read Tyrell correctly. Everything that Loker and Torres had managed to dig out suggested that Tyrell was more interested in making money than anything else. He was only violent when threatened and only killed when there was no choice. Cal relaxed slightly as Tyrell said,

'Go on.'

'First, let me prove that I'm not wearing a wire.'

Cal unbuttoned his overcoat and took it off, tossing it at one of the gang, saying,

'Check the pockets.'

The young man shot Tyrell a bemused look but did as Cal demanded when Tyrell nodded. Next Cal stripped off his shirt and jumper, turning to show that his back was naked too. Last, he undid his belt and unbuttoned his jeans and slid them down to his ankles. Gesturing to his skin-tight briefs, Cal said,

'I'd rather keep these on if it's all the same to you. I think you can see that I've got nothing to hide.'

Tyrell laughed, saying,

'Yeah, I can see that, man.'

'Oi, no need to be rude. It's a cold day.'

'Sure.'

Tyrell smiled smugly and Cal reflected wryly that for all our apparent sophistication, humans are still conditioned by our animal responses; Tyrell believed that he had established dominance by asserting that he was more well-endowed than Cal. Cal repressed a smirk as he dressed.  
Once he had buttoned up his coat, Cal said,

'All right. You want two things: to pay your mother's hospital bill and to get your hands on that plonker Dave Burns, Mario Carreri or whatever Captain bloody America is calling himself now. I can make both those things happen. And you'll get a pile of cash too.'

Tyrell looked at Cal closely and deciding that he was serious, put the safety back on his gun and took a step back, saying,

'How?'

'I can pay your mother's bill electronically over the Internet. All I need is your mother's full name and date of birth and there'll be nothing that the DEA can do to stop it. Arranging for you to get your hands on Captain fucking America will be a little more complicated because the coward has gone into hiding but I know how to flush him out.'

'Yeah?'

'You let me ransom Doctor Foster. Once she's free, we'll put together a civil case and sue the DEA. Those guys are such plonkers I guarantee you that they'll send Captain America over to see Gillian to try persuade her to drop the case. That will give you the opportunity to follow him to wherever he's hiding out and you can snatch him at your leisure.'

'Why would the DEA care that Dr Foster is suing them?'

'Because they used her picture on Mario's fake Facebook account without her permission and in doing so put her in danger. You wouldn't have known that she was Mario's girlfriend if he hadn't put it on Facebook and Twitter, would you?'

'No. He was careful not to be seen out and about with her.'

'So, without that, Foster wouldn't have been kidnapped. Gillian would almost certainly win as not only is it unethical, it directly violates their own procedures.'

'And you're certain that they will send Mario to talk to her?'

'Yes. They'll assume that because they were going out, Gillian will melt into his arms and forgive him.'

Cal chose his words carefully, aware that he didn't know what, if anything, Gillian had told them about her relationship with Burns.

'What makes you so sure that she won't?'

'Firstly, because she's not in love with him and secondly, how would you feel if the man who claimed to be madly in love with you didn't lift a finger to help you when you'd been kidnapped? You'd want to punish the bugger, wouldn't you? And trust me, women are much more vindictive than men are when it comes to betrayal. She'll jump at the chance to make him pay.'

Tyrell nodded slowly, a smile forming on his face,

'All right. How much money are we talking about for the ransom?'

'Including your mum's hospital bills, four hundred thousand dollars.'

'You're willing to pay four hundred thousand dollars for Doctor Foster? She's worth that much to you?'

'She's worth more but that's all the bank was willing to lend me.'

'It's a trap. Ain't no bitch worth that much money!'

Cal turned and looked at the man who had interrupted. He was young and had a pugnacious expression. The other gang members watched silently as Tyrell said,

'Shut up, Nathan!'

Tyrell turned back to Cal, who quietly said,

'You know I'm not wearing a wire. I've kicked the FBI out of my office and I'm willing to let you decide where and when we do the exchange.'

'Why are you willing to pay so much?'

'Because she's my rock. She stops me from goin' insane and because I want her. With Mario screwing her over like this, if I rescue her I reckon I'll be in the perfect position to move in on her. And she does all the borin' financial stuff for the business too.'

'So can you pay my mother's bill today?'

'No, the money won't be in my account till tomorrow. How much are we talking about anyway?'

'About fifty grand, depending on how much longer she needs to stay in for.'

'Why is she in for so long?'

'She got an infection.'

'But she's getting better, yeah?'

'Yes.'

'Good. How about we meet at an Internet café tomorrow and you bring your mother's details and you can watch me transfer the money? You choose the time and the place. Then you can tell me where to bring the rest of the money.'

Cal remained silent as Tyrell thought. The gang leader paced as he thought which gave Cal an excuse to observe the rest of the gang. Tyrell's gang were all black but were a mixture of genders and ages, though none seemed to be older than Tyrell who was twenty-six. The only one who stuck out was Nathan and Cal couldn't decide whether it was just because of his disparaging attitude towards women or whether there was something else. Without talking to him and gauging his reactions, Cal couldn't get an accurate read.  
After about five minutes, Tyrell stopped pacing and said,

'Here's what we're going to do. Someone will meet you at the Internet café tomorrow so you can pay my mother's bill, like you said and if nothing goes wrong, then the following day, we do the exchange. If we see a policeman or a fed, then the deal's off. Agreed?'

Cal grimaced inwardly at the thought of Gillian having to spend an extra night in captivity but said,

'Agreed but before I do anything I want to speak to Foster to make sure that she's alive.'

He had known from the beginning of the conversation that Gillian was alive but he was desperate to hear her voice and he wanted to reassure her that negotiations were taking place. Tyrell nodded and said,

'Five minutes and don't try to find out where she's being held.'

'Ten minutes, on speakerphone so you can hear everything.'

'Eight.'

'All right.'

Gillian had finished her meal and was sipping her coffee when the door opened and her daytime guard came in. He held the phone out to her, saying,

'It's for you.'

Gillian took the phone and said cautiously,

'Hello?'

'Gill?'

As she recognised Cal's voice, Gillian felt a wave of relief passing through her body; Cal was sorting things out! Smiling, even though she knew that he couldn't see her, she said,

'Hello, Cal.'

**Please review. Thanks.**


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I still don't own Lie to Me.

Chapter Fourteen

Cal felt relief surge through him at Gillian's first words; her voice was strong and the use of the word 'Hello' was their code for 'I am not being coerced'. He had not expected her to be coerced given how he had set this up but it was reassuring to know that he was right. He casually fed her the next line,

'All right, darlin'?'

'I'm fine, Cal. I've got a few bruises but that's all.'

Cal struggled to keep his face still as the knowledge that she hadn't been raped was countered by wondering how she had come to be bruised. Forcing himself to keep up his façade of casual concern, he said,

'Nothin' else?'

'No, though I'll no doubt need a few therapy sessions to help me process the kidnapping.'

Cal thought furiously as he processed what Gillian was saying and what it really meant; something had happened that she would need therapy for but the 'No' at the beginning of the sentence meant that it wasn't a direct result of the kidnapping. Puzzled, he asked the next question in their code,

'You getting enough to eat?'

'Yes, though I'd love a hot chocolate at bed time.'

So, whatever it was had happened at night. Cal felt his blood run cold as various very unpleasant scenarios ran through his brain. Outwardly, he grinned, saying,

'You and your sweet tooth. Hot chocolate? Are you sure you wouldn't rather have chocolate cake? Or is bed time the wrong time for cake?'

'It's never the wrong time for cake, Cal.'

No new information there but they'd known when they devised the code that they wouldn't be able to cover everything. Cal carried on, saying,

'Aside from being cake-deprived, anything else?'

'I'm just a bit bored. I wish I'd picked up my book from my bedside table.'

'Not another of your trashy romances? I don't know how you can read that rubbish.'

'They aren't trashy and they make me happy. I'd only just started my new one and I think it's going to be really good.'

Cal felt his heart rate pick up; there was a clue to Gill's whereabouts in the book or on her bedside table. Smirking, he said,

'Let me guess, innocent maiden ravished by a handsome knight?'

'Really, Cal, you should try reading one sometime; they're the perfect antidote to our work.'

The clue was definitely in the book. Smirking again, he said,

'Maybe I'll read it after you've finished it, if you'll agree to play the part of the innocent maiden afterwards, that is.'

'Nice try, Cal, but I don't think so.'

So her assailant had been male. Not surprising but useful confirmation.

'You don't know what you're missing, darlin'.'

'No, but don't worry, Cal, if I want to find out I'll just ask one of your many one night stands.'

Gillian's voice had a truly authentic edge to it and Cal felt a surge of hope at the jealousy that he could hear concealed in it. He responded automatically, even whilst he noted that Gillian thought that the threat to her had passed,

'Oi, no need for that! Here am I negotiating for your release, at great personal inconvenience may I add, and all you can do is insult me.'

'You poor baby,' said Gillian insincerely.

Cal put on a look of mock offence, saying,

'You just don't appreciate my finer qualities.'

'Cal, you're an arrogant narcissist with control issues. I think I appreciate you plenty.'

'You know you miss me really.'

'I do, which just means that I need psychiatric help.'

Cal could hear the gang members sniggering at Gill's sarcastic replies and he smiled inwardly as he remembered how much fun they'd had devising the code, trying to make it sound natural and believable. Gillian had really enjoyed working out the various insults that they could use to convey information. Cal now knew that she had not been questioned at all and was generally being left alone. They had reached the end of the scripted part of the code and they were getting short of time so Cal moved on to the information that Gill needed to know,

'I've reached a deal with your kidnappers so, all being well, you should be out of there in a couple of days.'

'Thank you, Cal.'

'Yeah, well, you keep your chin up, all right? I'll see you soon.'

'I will and you try not to alienate too many people.'

'Who? Me?'

'Already, Cal? I've only been here for a couple of days. Who have you annoyed now?'

'Nobody important.'

'Cal…'

'Just the DEA and the FBI.'

'Well the DEA never give us any work anyway and the FBI work always seems to turn out to be a poisoned chalice so I suppose it could be worse.'

'Bunch of wankers the lot of them.'

Cal saw Tyrell reaching for the phone and said quickly,

'Gotta go. Bye, Gill.'

'Bye, Cal.'

Tyrell ended the call and Cal waited until he'd put his phone away before saying,

'She's alive, like you said. Just one problem; would you mind explaining to me why she's bruised? I watched the footage of the kidnapping and your lads did it so smoothly that I don't suppose she had a mark on her. So where did she get the bruises from?'

'There was a misunderstanding,' said Tyrell.

'Now that's a lie,' said Cal, 'So what was it? Did you decide to have some fun?'

Tyrell glanced sideways, looking annoyed and ashamed and Cal pounced,

'It wasn't you, was it? One of your boys disobeyed you, didn't he? Who was it?'

Cal glared at the gang members and realised almost immediately that it was Nathan, the man who had spoken so disparagingly about Gillian.

'It was Nathan, wasn't it?'

'Yes.'

'Did he rape her?'

'No, it wasn't as bad as that.'

Cal caught the expression on one of the female gang members faces and said,

'She's not quite sure that she agrees with you. Must have been something pretty sick then.'

Cal turned back to Tyrell and continued,

'So what was it? What did he do to her?'

'He held her down and put a cushion over her face,' replied Tyrell reluctantly.

Cal turned away from Tyrell and went over to Nathan, saying,

'You enjoyed that, didn't you? Having the power of life and death over a helpless captive? It turned you on, didn't it?'

'No, I was just messing about.'

'That's a complete lie. Just thinking about it now is making you aroused. See his nostrils flaring?' said Cal to the room at large, 'That's arousal. You're a sick puppy, aren't you, Nathan?'

'Fuck off! I just wanted to make the white bitch pay for all the times I've been called a worthless nigger, that's all.'

'Another lie. You love the idea of torturing and killing women, don't you? Don't bother to try to hide it, it's written all over your face.'

'I don't have to explain myself to you.'

'That's true but how are you going to explain yourself to Tyrell when you go back and kill Gillian tonight. That is your plan, isn't it?'

'No.'

'You all saw his eyes slip down and to the left then? He's lying.'

'What? No I'm not.'

'Another lie,' said Cal glancing over at Tyrell, 'And after you've killed Gillian, you're going to find someone else to kill, aren't you? Because you're a psychopath and you won't be able to stop yourself.'

'No, I'm not. You're mad.'

'No, I'm not, son. You're the one who ought to be locked up. Tell me, have you chosen your second victim yet?'

Nathan's eyes slipped across to Tyrell and Cal immediately said,

'Did you see that? He looked over at you, his next victim is going to be a relative of yours.'

'What?' said Tyrell.

'Yeah, I'm right, aren't I, Nathan? Who will it be? His girlfriend? No. His sister? No. His mother? His mother. Because you have a thing about maternal figures, don't you? You want to torture and kill Tyrell's mum. The thought of having her helpless and dying at your hand is such a turn on that you can barely contain yourself. Pupils dilated, nostrils flared and he just licked his lips. If we stripped him now, I bet he'd have a semi.'

'You sick motherfucker!'

Cal hit the ground as the gun fired, covering his head with his arms. There were two more shots and then a body hit the ground a few feet away. He looked up cautiously and saw Tyrell leaning over Nathan's body. Getting to his feet he said,

'Is he dead?'

'Yes.'

Tyrell looked at Cal and Cal could see the rage dying down and being replaced with confusion. Cal quietly said,

'You just saved your mum's life. And Gillian's and who knows how many more besides.'

'You're sure?'

'Yes, completely.'

Tyrell gestured brusquely at the body and said,

'John, MJ, get rid of the body.'

Cal turned away from the corpse and said,

'You'll call me with the place and time?'

'Yeah. Get him out of here.'

Cal stood quietly as they put the hood back on his head and let himself be led to the waiting car.

**Please review.**


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I still don't own Lie to Me. Though if Fox wants to sell me the rights for peanuts I promise to take good care of it.

Author's note: A big thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far. [hugs]

Chapter Fifteen

Gillian handed the phone back to her guard, smiling happily as she said,

'Thank you.'

'So that's your boss? He's pretty hardcore.'

'We're partners but yes, he is.'

'I loved the way he took a dive down the steps outside the DEA headquarters.'

'He did what?'

'Oh yeah, you haven't had internet access. It was classic; he made it look like the guards tripped him and rolled all the way to the bottom of the stairs.'

'And someone caught it on camera?'

'Yeah, it was on the news. Hang on, I'll see if I can get it on YouTube.'

Michael went online on his phone and searched for the clip. A minute later, he was laughing as he said,

'Looks like he meant it when he said he'd ditched the FBI; look at this.'

He sat beside her on the bed and they watched the footage of Cal and Bernard fighting. By the time it had finished, Michael was laughing helplessly,

'Did you see that guy's face when he offered to give his wife an orgasm! And Lightman didn't give a shit when the agent hit him either.'

'No, Cal had a rough upbringing,' said Gillian, thinking sadly that that was an understatement.

'Yeah? Makes sense. He really enjoyed riling that FBI agent, didn't he? What did he call him? Bern…nurd?'

'In England that's how Bernard's pronounced but Cal knows that Agent Dillon hates it, he does it deliberately to annoy him.'

'It certainly worked.'

'Cal's very good at annoying people,' said Gillian wryly.

'Does he annoy you?'

'Sometimes.'

'But you still work with him?'

'Yes, because he's… my best friend.'

Gillian stopped herself from saying what she was really feeling, not wanting to give the kidnappers more leverage. Besides how would she describe their relationship? She had finally acknowledged that she was in love with him but they weren't lovers yet. Shrugging, she continued,

'So, although there are times when I want to shake him, I would never leave him.'

'Seems like he feels the same way about you. It took balls to approach Tyrell the way he did.'

Gillian managed to keep her face still at the mention of the gang leader's name, not wanting to spook her guard. It was irrelevant now, anyway, as Cal undoubtedly knew a lot more about Tyrell than just his first name. She chose her next words carefully, not wanting to let her guard know just how dangerous Cal was.

'Cal's got plenty of courage; too much sometimes. He dives straight in without thinking and then trusts to luck and brains to get himself out alive.'

'Well it's worked so far, hasn't it?'

'Yes and he does plan. I just worry that one day he'll get it wrong.'

'He seems to be doing all right so far. Watch this.'

Michael put on the clip of Cal diving down the steps of the DEA headquarters and the subsequent interview and Gillian smiled appreciatively at Cal's antics.

'Best thing is,' said Michael, 'all these old suits who saw it reckon he was pushed and the DEA have been getting loads of flack. Debates on TV, questions in the Senate and all that shit.'

'That will have made Cal's week. He genuinely believes that drugs should be legalised so he'll find the fact that he has managed to provoke a debate by taking a dive hilarious.'

Even with the mask, Gillian could tell that her guard was grinning broadly,

'It is pretty funny.'

They sat in silence for a minute then Michael said,

'D'you need anything?'

'I'm getting low on food.'

'I'll get some more.'

'Thank you. Could I have some fruit too, please?'

'Fruit?'

'Yes, I don't mind what.'

Michael looked at her and shook his head blankly, here she was with the perfect excuse to sit and eat chocolate all day and she wanted fruit.

'Whatever you want, Aunt Gill.'

Gillian suppressed her smile until he had left the room; one day he would appreciate the virtues of fruit. Feeling the happiest she had since the kidnapping, Gillian tucked her feet under her and thought about all the things that she was going to do to Cal once she was free.

Cal used his emergency key to let himself into Gillian's house and picked up her mail from the mat. He looked around each room carefully, making sure that nothing was out of place. There was a slightly sour smell in the kitchen and when Cal saw Gillian's breakfast dishes from the day that she had been kidnapped he frowned; he should have come over sooner. He put the dishes in soak and then carried on going through the house. Once he was certain that there were no obvious signs that anyone else had been in the house, he went into Gillian's bedroom and picked up the book from her bedside table. A superficial glance told Cal that it was a medical romance based in a hospital. Cal felt his pulse race as he realised what this meant; Gillian was being held in a hospital and it was one that she recognised. Cal took the book downstairs and booted up his laptop. Loading Gillian's resume, he started going through her college, post-doc and employment history. Half an hour later, he knew where Gillian was being held: The Sister's of Mercy Psychiatric hospital. The hospital had been closed four years ago but had not yet been redeveloped, partly because of the current economic situation and partly because of zoning issues. Cal loaded up a map of the hospital and grimaced, it was huge. Realistically, only a covert operation stood any chance of rescuing Gillian, and Cal's contacts in the area of black ops were out of date, leaving him with Smith as his only choice if he wanted to go down that route. Cal would far rather lose his house to the bank than go any further in debt to Smith. After all, the bank would only evict him. However, it would do no harm to get a provisional plan in place just in case. Cal made himself a pot of tea and a sandwich from Gillian's supplies and called up a detailed plan of the hospital.  
Two hours later he closed his laptop and scrubbed his face with his hands. He'd gone as far as he could without further information. Google Earth had been useful, showing which parts of the hospital were still intact and he'd been able to narrow it down to the main part of the hospital. Unfortunately, that only brought it down to two hundred and fifty rooms and a room to room clearance would almost certainly result in Gillian's death. Plan D was still her best chance of survival.  
Cal washed the dishes and went upstairs to replace her book. As he was about to put it down, Gillian's words came back to him and instead he sat down on the edge of her bed and began to read.

Cal jerked awake several hours later and for a few seconds felt completely disorientated. He was lying fully dressed on Gillian's bed, her book resting on the pillow beside his head. His head was resting on Gillian's pyjamas, which explained both why he'd had the best sleep he'd had for days and why he was uncomfortably aroused. Blinking, Cal realised that he'd been woken by an incoming text. The text was from Tyrell and read,

'Cyberworld café, 10.30.'

Cal typed,

'Yes.'

And hit send.

Looking at his watch, Cal realised that he had plenty of time, which was as well as his arousal showed no signs of abating. For a moment he considered masturbating whilst lying on Gillian's bed, sniffing her pyjamas but reminded himself that that wasn't the way you behaved towards someone you loved, or their pyjamas.

'You're just a pervert, Lightman.'

Smiling wryly, Cal undressed and got into the shower, closing his eyes and pretending that Gillian was in there too. The scent of her shower gel and shampoo curling around him made it easy to pretend that it was her hands on his body and it wasn't long before he climaxed, shouting Gillian's name.

At 10:25 am Cal strolled into Cyberworld café and paid for an hour of internet time and ten pages of printout. He selected a computer at the back of the café, by the fire exit and with a clear view of the entrance and sat down. He was sure that he hadn't been followed but it was always best to be prepared. He had just finished logging in when one of Tyrell's lieutenant's came in. Cal looked up just long enough to make eye contact with her then turned his gaze back to the computer. The young woman came over to him and said,

'Fancy some company?'

'Not today thanks, darlin'.'

'Here's my number if you change your mind.'

Cal took the small rectangle of card from her and casually placed it on the table beside him. Neatly printed on the card were all of the details he needed to pay the hospital bill. Inwardly applauding Tyrell's ingenuity (no one would notice a prostitute approaching a John in this part of town), Cal went on to the hospital's website and paid the bill. He printed out the receipt and logged off. He swaggered out, holding the folded printout concealed in the palm of his hand and walked over to where the young woman was standing, saying,

'Actually darlin', I've got an hour to spare. How much for a blowjob?'

As he spoke, Cal angled his body into hers shielding their hands from view and passed her the receipt. She looked blank for a moment then said,

'Two hundred dollars.'

Cal grinned with genuine amusement, saying,

'You've got to be joking? You royalty or somethin'?'

Shaking his head in apparent disbelief, Cal walked off, checking to make sure that he still wasn't being followed.

Please review


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I still don't own Lie to Me.

Author's note: Hopefully the place I chose wasn't too absurd. If you know the area and it's a mad choice, sorry.

Chapter Sixteen

Gillian smiled at her daytime guard as he came in carrying a cup of coffee,

'Is that for me?'

'Yeah.'

He handed her the cup then shuffled his feet slightly before taking something out of his pocket and handing it to her,

'Here.'

Accepting the small box of chocolates, Gillian said,

'Thank you but what are these for?'

'For your advice, yeah?'

'Advice? Oh, did she agree to a coffee?'

'Yeah, I'm taking her out this evening.'

'Good, I'm glad.'

'Yeah…well… I just wanted to thank you.'

'You're welcome.'

Even with his mask on, Gillian could tell that he was feeling embarrassed so she said,

'Did you watch the game last night?'

'Yeah.'

'Who won?'

Gillian smiled as the young man leant against the wall and told her about last night's basketball game. Thinking about statistics and the possible effect of injuries took her mind away from her captivity, even if only temporarily. And, the cynical part of her mind reminded her, deepened the bond between her and the guard, increasing her survival chances if Cal's plan went awry.

Cal resisted the urge to throw his phone against the wall of his office; the bank didn't want him to withdraw the ransom money until just before the exchange. Whilst he understood that wandering around with an enormous sum of money on him was dangerous, he wanted to be ready to do the exchange at a moment's notice. Pouring himself a large scotch, he tossed it down and paced his office, trying to control his anger. He had somehow managed not to tell the bank manager what a useless tosser he was, swallowing the words for Gillian's sake but now he had to let off steam. Storming out of his office, he went into the lab, where Loker was working on some footage for a client,

'Haven't you finished that yet?'

'No, Doctor Lightman,' said Eli warily.

'Get a bloody move on! We're trying to run a business here!'

'Yes, Doctor Lightman.'

Seeing that Loker wasn't in the mood for a fight, Cal prowled around the office, looking for other targets. Unfortunately, Ria was out on a case and the rest of the staff were too timid to stand up to him. Growling, he grabbed his coat and left, saying to Anna,

'Tell everyone to get some bloody work done!'

'Yes, Doctor Lightman.'

Leaving his car in the parking lot, Cal walked towards the subway, casually barging past any young men that he passed. The fifth man he barged challenged him and two minutes later they had finished exchanging insults and were exchanging blows. It only lasted for a few seconds then Cal was on the floor wishing he'd chosen someone smaller and wondering if he was about to have his ribs staved in. Fortunately, the man saw two police officers arriving and ran off with the police in pursuit. An elderly woman helped Cal to his feet, tutting audibly. Once she was certain that Cal wasn't seriously hurt, she said,

'What did you do that for?'

Cal looked into a pair of extremely shrewd eyes and his automatic denial died on his lips and instead he said,

'Honestly, I don't know.'

And now that he'd let out some of his anger, he genuinely didn't know what had been going through his mind. He could have been badly hurt then who would have done the exchange tomorrow? Running his hands through his hair, he said,

'I think I'm just a right idiot at times.'

The old woman smiled and said,

'At least you're honest about it. Want to talk about it?'

'No.'

The woman nodded acceptance, saying,

'Do you need a doctor?'

'No, it's just a few bruises. I'll go and put an ice pack on them.'

He headed down into the subway, deliberately not waiting for the police to return just in case they had managed to catch the man that he'd provoked into attacking him.

Gillian stopped mid-sentence as her guard's phone rang, certain that he wasn't supposed to be chatting casually with her. Her guard looked at the caller id and answered,

'Yeah?'

The ensuing conversation was not illuminating from Gillian's point of view as her guard's contribution consisted of saying, 'Yeah' and 'Right' several times and she couldn't hear the other person. However, she could tell that her guard was being given instructions and once he had hung up she looked questioningly at him. He hesitated then said,

'It's all right. Lightman's doing what he said he would.'

'Does that mean that I'll be getting out of here soon.'

'Yeah, probably.'

Gillian longed to ask him to elaborate but his body language had closed off and his voice was reluctant and she guessed that he hadn't been supposed to tell her anything so she forced herself to smile and say,

'Good.'

The guard's posture relaxed as Gillian continued,

'Thank you for telling me about the game.'

'No problem. You hungry?'

'Yes.'

'What d'you fancy? Cheeseburger again or fried chicken?'

'Fried chicken,' said Gillian, thinking wryly that she was going to need to do a detox when she got out of there; she was too old for her body to be happy with a continuous diet of burgers and fried chicken.

Cal went home and put ice on his bruises. Slouching on his sofa, he realised that he hadn't done any housework for days. Of course, he'd hardly been in his house for days, but even so, it was starting to look a bit grubby. If all went well with the exchange, then he was intending to spend the next few days wherever Gill wanted to be, which would probably be her house but there was always the chance that she might decide to spend time at his place instead. Cal put the ice pack back in the freezer for later and quickly cleaned the house. Thinking about Gillian curling up on his sofa watching a cheesy movie made Cal smile and he decided to stock up on her favourite foods in the hopes of enticing her over.  
After shopping, he did laundry then sat on the sofa with his phone in front of him, waiting for a text from Tyrell. It wasn't until nine-thirty that the text arrived,

'11 am. Location at 10 am.'

Cal immediately sent a text agreeing, then called the bank manager at home to arrange to collect the money as soon as the bank opened the next day.  
Then he sat and worried. He'd done everything that he could but there were so many variables. What if it all went wrong?

Gillian was peeling an orange when the door opened and her daytime guard came in,

'Morning, Aunt Gill.'

'Morning.'

'It's time to get moving.'

'Time to get moving?'

'Yeah. You need to change back into your work clothes and we need to tidy up in here.'

'You mean…?'

'Yeah, you're going home. Well, provided Lightman brings the money, you are.'

'He will; Cal doesn't care about money.'

Smiling, Gillian leapt to her feet and took the bag containing her work clothes into the tiny bathroom to get changed.

Cal paced the bank manager's office impatiently,

'What's taking so long?'

'It takes time to count out that much money.'

'Well, why didn't they start earlier then?'

'They started as soon as they arrived this morning. It won't be much longer, I'm sure.'

'It better not be!' snarled Cal, looking at his watch.

It was nine fifty-five and in five minutes he wanted to be in his car ready to drive. Just as he was considering pinning the bank manager to the wall by his throat, the door opened and one of the assistant managers came in carrying a large holdall,

'Three hundred and forty-eight thousand dollars, Sir.'

'Thank you,' said the manager.

Cal signed the paperwork and left. As he got into his car his phone rang,

'Lightman.'

'Go to the short-term section of the parking lot at Greenbelt Metro station. Park as close to the station as you can. Get out of your car and wait.'

'Right.'

Tyrell hung up without saying anything else and Cal took several deep breaths to try to calm his nerves before starting the car. By choosing somewhere public, Tyrell had increased the chances of something going wrong. As he drove, Cal thought about the venue and after a few minutes he realised that he was being stupid; if Tyrell was wary of him (which would be sensible) then Greenbelt station made a lot of sense. It offered three different forms of transport that could be used by the kidnappers when making their escape. Four if you included leaving on foot, though that would no doubt be their last resort. And at eleven o'clock in the morning it would be fairly quiet.

Gillian sat quietly between two of her captors, listening to the sounds around her as they drove. After a while, the man that she now knew was Tyrell, said,

'Doctor Foster, I'm going to remove the bag from your head. If you scream, I'll knock you out. Understand?'

Gillian nodded and the bag over her head was removed. She looked around cautiously, trying to work out where they were. They were on a fairly busy highway, travelling at a sedate fifty miles per hour and Gillian realised that the bag had been removed from her head to avoid drawing attention to them. The men around her were unmasked and were all showing signs of nervousness. Gillian deliberately relaxed back against the seat and folded her hands in her lap, doing her best to project calm.

Cal pulled into the parking lot at ten forty-five and cruised round the short-term parking looking for a slot close to the station. Five minutes later, he fed some quarters into the meter and climbed back into his car to wait. At two minutes to eleven, he got back out of the car with the bag of money held firmly in one hand.

A minute later, one of Tyrell's lieutenants approached him, saying,

'Over here.'

Cal followed him to a nondescript sedan parked a little away from the others. As he approached, Tyrell got out of the back seat, followed by Gillian. Tyrell held Gillian by the arm, saying,

'Is the money all there?'

'Yes, three hundred and forty-eight thousand, as we agreed.'

'Check it.'

Two of Tyrell's men took the bag from Cal and began counting it into four backpacks. Cal ignored them and gazed at Gillian. She looked tired and fragile, with a large bruise on her face but when he made eye contact with her she let her mask drop for a second and the joy she showed made his heart leap.

Eventually, the money had been counted and Tyrell nodded at Cal saying,

'Good doing business with you, Doctor Lightman,' and released Gillian's arm.

Gillian walked over to Cal and he pulled her into a hug, saying thickly,

'I am never letting you out of my sight again!'

'Good.'

Two seconds later they were kissing passionately, the world around them forgotten.

**Please review.**


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I still don't own Lie to Me.

Chapter Seventeen

Michael glanced behind him as they walked towards the metro station and laughed, saying,

'I think Mario just got dumped.'

Tyrell looked back at the car park and smirked as he saw Doctor Foster and Doctor Lightman kissing passionately,

'Shame.'

They moved warily into the station, looking out for ambushes but five minutes later they were safely on a train, headed back into the city.

Gillian sighed as Cal kissed her again, feeling her knees starting to turn to jelly. His lips were firm and tender against hers and when he brushed his tongue against her lips she opened her mouth to him without hesitation. Cal pulled her more firmly against him and they both moaned at the increased contact. Gillian moved one of her hands down to his waist and pushed his jumper and shirt aside so she could get to his skin. Cal hissed as her icy cold hand touched his side and reluctantly pulled back saying,

'You're frozen.'

Gillian kissed him tenderly then said,

'Yes but it doesn't matter.'

'Let's get you somewhere warmer.'

Holding hands, they walked to Cal's car and got in. Cal turned on the engine and put the heater on, saying,

'We need to take you to the Emergency Room.'

'I'm fine, Cal. I don't need a doctor.'

'Gill, we need to get your injuries catalogued, in case it comes to court.'

'Do you think it ever will?'

'Don't know. But just in case, yeah?'

Cal was tense and Gillian knew that he needed reassurance that she was okay. Reluctantly she said,

'All right.'

Cal reached over and took her hand in his, saying,

'Then I'll take you home, all right?'

'Yes, I can't wait to have a shower; my hair's disgusting!'

'You look great to me.'

Gillian smiled softly,

'Thank you but my hair is filthy, I haven't showered since I was kidnapped and I smell.'

'Doesn't matter; you still look great… Though now you come to mention it...'

'What?'

'You smell bloody wonderful.'

Cal reached across and kissed her again, ignoring the awkward position. Gillian responded eagerly and they lost track of time again until Cal touched one of Gillian's wrists. The touch was a gentle caress but Gillian flinched and pulled back. Cal felt his blood congeal as he carefully pushed Gill's sleeves up and looked at the bruises. Shaking with rage, he said,

'Did that sick bastard, Nathan, do this?'

'Nathan?'

'He was the one who pinned you down and put a cushion over your face.'

'Yes, it was.'

Gillian looked at Cal questioningly and he realised that she didn't know that Nathan was dead,

'After we talked, I asked Tyrell why you were bruised.'

Gillian looked closely at Cal. His expression was one of cool indifference, which confirmed to her that he was hiding something,

'What did you do?'

Cal shrugged inwardly, it was probably better for Gill to know anyway,

'I talked to Nathan and exposed him for the sick pervert he was and Tyrell shot him.'

'He's dead?'

'Yes.'

Gillian knew that she ought to feel sorrow at the cutting short of a young life but all she felt was relief. Quick on the heels of the relief came guilt, because she didn't feel any sorrow.

Cal watched the emotions passing over Gill's face and when he saw her guilt, he said,

'Don't feel guilty; he was a psychopath.'

'Was he?'

'Yes. If Tyrell hadn't shot him he would have killed time and time again.'

'Starting with me.'

Gillian said it as a statement and Cal didn't bother trying to deny it. Instead he pulled her into his arms and kissed her tenderly. The kiss deepened but after a few seconds Gillian reluctantly pulled away, saying,

'Sorry, my side's sore.'

Cal looked at her with concern and she hastened to reassure him,

'It's just a few pulled muscles, Cal. I'll be fine in a few days.'

Cal looked at her intently, reading the truth on her face. He relaxed slightly but said,

'Time for the Emergency Room.'

Gillian nodded a grudging assent, they put on their seat belts and Cal drove off.

They drove in silence for a couple of minutes then Gillian said,

'Did anyone else know about the ransom?'

'Not in detail, no.'

'Shouldn't we let people know that I'm safe.'

'Probably,' said Cal reluctantly.

He knew it was childish but he wanted to keep her to himself for a while, particularly since they seemed to be about to move from friends to lovers. It was selfish, he knew, but he just wanted to hole up in her house and make love to her. Gillian was looking at him expectantly so he said,

'Might be better to wait till we're at the hospital; the screams might distract me.'

'Screams?'

'Of excitement. You wouldn't believe how loud Loker can be.'

Gillian smiled but asked,

'Why the delay?'

'I made a deal with Tyrell and I don't want him to think I broke it. The minute the FBI find out that you're free and that the kidnappers left on the metro, they'll start searching the metro. I need Tyrell to think he's got away with it.'

Gillian looked at him thoughtfully but decided not to ask any more questions at the moment. She was cold, aching and dirty and more importantly, she trusted Cal. From his wording, it was clear that he had a plan, for now she would just go along with it. She was also feeling too tired for one of Cal's non-explanations so she rested her head on his shoulder and said,

'Okay.'

Once they were in the city Cal navigated expertly to the Emergency Room nearest to Gill's house. Once he had parked they walked together into the hospital. When they got to reception, Gillian hesitated, thinking that saying that she'd been kidnapped sounded so melodramatic. Fortunately, Cal had no qualms and said,

'This is Doctor Gillian Foster. She's been kidnapped and needs to be seen as soon as possible.'

The receptionist looked sharply at them both before saying,

'And you're Doctor Lightman, aren't you? If you'll just fill out these forms, I'll let the doctor know straight away.'

'Thanks, luv,' said Cal, smiling his most charming smile and thickening his British accent.

They sat down and Gillian began filling out the paperwork. Cal took out his phone and hit speed dial one. It was answered immediately,

'Dad?'

'I've got her, Em. She's safe.'

Cal winced and moved the phone away from his ear as Emily screamed loudly. When she stopped he said,

'D'you want a quick word?'

'Yes. I mean… if you think she's up to it?'

'She's okay but keep it short, Em, yeah?'

'I will, Dad.'

Cal passed the phone to Gill and watched her face light up as she talked to Emily. Emily was true to her word and two minutes later Cal was saying goodbye to her and dialling again, this time the office. Anna answered,

'The Lightman Group.'

'Anna, tell Loker to make sure the books are in order for Doctor Foster to look at later.'

'Later… You mean, you've found her?'

'Yes.'

'Oh, Doctor Lightman! That's wonderful! Is she all right?'

'Just a few bumps and bruises, I think. We're at the Emergency Room now.'

'But you're coming over to the office later?'

'Don't know, darlin'. Depends how she's feeling and what the doctor says.'

'Of course, Doctor Lightman. Tell her how pleased I am.'

'Will do. Tell Loker I'll call him later.'

'Yes, Doctor Lightman.'

Cal hung up and said,

'Do you want to ring your mother?'

Gillian took Cal's phone and dialled. It was answered on the first ring,

'Cal? Have you heard anything?'

'Mum, it's me.'

'Gillian! Are you all right? Are you safe?'

'I'm fine, Mum. Cal ransomed me.'

'Thank God! Where are you?'

'We're at the Emergency Room.'

'The Emergency Room? But I thought you said that you were okay?'

'I am, Mum. It's just Cal being over-protective as usual.'

'Good. It's time you had someone taking care of you.'

Gillian smiled wryly, knowing that she was about to be lectured about the lack of a man in her life, which was particularly ironic since she was intending to correct that immediately. Since she had no intention of telling her mum that she and Cal were together until after having a talk with Cal, she was relieved to hear her name being called by the ER doctor,

'Sorry, Mum, the doctor's ready for me. Got to go.'

'Love you, sweetheart.'

'I love you too, Mum. Bye.'

She handed the phone back to Cal and followed the doctor into the cubicle. Cal hovered hesitantly by the entrance until Gillian held out her hand to him. He had donned his professional expression for the doctor but the way that he held her hand almost too tightly made it clear how worried he was.

The doctor confirmed her details then said,

'You were kidnapped?'

'Yes.'

'You said on your Admissions Form that you have bruising and pulled muscles. How did that happen?'

Taking a deep breath to compose herself, Gillian explained what had happened.

**Please review.**


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I still don't own Lie to Me.

Author's note: Mwahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Chapter Eighteen

Cal carefully kept his eyes on Gillian's face as the doctor examined her ribs. Normally the temptation to see her top half in just a bra would have been impossible to resist but this wasn't a situation where leering was appropriate. Even as he thought it, Cal's animal side suggested that a quick peek would be okay. Firmly reminding his libido that his brain was in charge, Cal watched Gill's face instead. She winced as the doctor got her to move and Cal squeezed her shoulder gently. She smiled up at him and he lost himself admiring her beauty. Gillian coloured under Cal's scrutiny but a quiet question from the doctor brought her back to reality. After the doctor had finished his examination he said,

'You've pulled your intercostal muscles, as you suspected, so you'll need to take it easy for a few days. Take lots of warm baths and try not to make any sudden movements. I'll write you a prescription for some painkillers. They may make you a bit drowsy so don't drive after taking them. If there's no improvement in a few days, go and see your doctor.'

'Yes, Doctor.'

'The bruising on your wrists is quite severe so don't be surprised if it takes longer than you expect to clear up. Try not to wear anything that's tight around the cuffs. Do you have a therapist?'

'Yes.'

Cal looked at Gillian in surprise, then shrugged; she was no doubt referring to a colleague that she knew would help her.

'You should see them as soon as possible.'

Gillian nodded. At the moment she felt all right but she knew that was just the exhilaration of being free. Once that had worn off she would start feeling the effects again. She knew that Cal would be there for the nightmares and the tears but she needed professional help too.

'And you should take a few days off work if you can.'

'We're too busy.'

'We'll manage,' said Cal, firmly.

'Cal, I need to get the accounts done. Or are you going to do them?'

Cal grimaced,

'Good point, luv. How about you just do the accounts then? Nothin' else?'

'Why should you get all the fun?'

Cal smirked at Gillian's sulky expression,

'Tell you what, luv, I promise not to enjoy myself. How about that?'

Gillian's lips twitched and Cal smiled smugly. He'd known that Gillian would refuse to take time off and at least this way she'd be safe in the office. He had no intention of letting her out in the field until Plan D had finished playing out.

They left the hospital and Cal drove them to Gillian's house. As they walked into the house, Gillian said,

'Shouldn't you call the FBI?'

'Unless Loker wants to be looking for a new job, he called them about an hour ago.'

'I'm surprised they didn't turn up at the hospital then.'

'There is just the smallest of chances that Loker might have sent them to the wrong hospital.'

'Cal!'

'What?'

Gillian shook her head but Cal could see that she wasn't really angry so he said,

'I thought you'd like a chance to have a shower and get something to eat before having to deal with them.'

'Thank you, Cal.'

Gillian put her arms around Cal's neck and kissed him. Cal responded immediately but Gillian broke the kiss after only a few seconds, saying,

'I have to get clean.'

She pulled away from him and went upstairs to her bedroom. Cal followed, saying,

'Need a hand?'

'No, Cal, I'll be fine.'

'You sure? Some parts of the body can be quite hard to reach yourself.'

'Out, Cal,' said Gillian pushing him towards the bedroom door, 'We can shower together another time.'

Placated by her promise of 'another time', Cal allowed himself to be pushed out the door, simply saying,

'If you change your mind…'

'Go away, Cal.'

Grinning, Cal went downstairs and put the kettle on. Whilst it was boiling he turned Gillian's coffee maker on, so it would be ready when she came downstairs. Having made himself a mug of tea, he sat in the lounge and reluctantly made some more calls. Having let Zoë, DCPD and Jack Radar know that she was safe, he flicked on Gillian's TV and channel surfed until he heard her moving about upstairs.  
Grinning, he poured some coffee into a mug, added milk and sugar and went upstairs. Knocking on her door, he immediately entered, saying,

'Coffee, darlin'?'

To his disappointment, Gillian was already wearing jeans and a T-shirt and was pulling a warm sweater out of a drawer as he walked in. She smiled at him and said,

'Thanks.'

She took a large sip of coffee and said,

'That's so good. I've only had fast-food store coffee since I was kidnapped. I'd practically forgotten what home-brewed coffee tastes like.'

Cal put an arm around her waist and said,

'Feeling a bit better?'

'Yes.'

'So what do you want to do next? Do you want to go into the office or not?'

Gillian thought about it for a few seconds. Everyone would fuss and it would be overwhelming but it was probably better to get it over with.

'Yes.'

'All right. I'll tell Loker to tell the FBI to meet us there later. Now, what do you want for lunch? Beans on toast?'

'I'd say yes but I'm almost certain that I don't have any beans.'

'No beans woman! How can you not have beans?'

'Some of us don't view baked beans as a primary food stuff, you know.'

Muttering under his breath about barbarians, Cal led the way down to the kitchen and together they rummaged through Gillian's cupboards.

'Soup and crackers?' suggested Gillian.

'Sounds bloody wonderful.'

They sat at Gillian's table to eat and Gillian sighed happily as the soup spread warmth through her body.

'All right, darlin'?'

'Yes, I finally feel warm again.'

'Good… If you should need warming up later, we could always share body heat.'

Gillian laughed,

'Really, Cal?'

'Just sayin''

Gillian stopped eating and looked at Cal intensely, saying,

'Cal, I think we need to talk.'

Cal immediately put his unreadable mask on, in preparation for the pain, and said,

'All right.'

Gillian sighed inwardly but outwardly she just said,

'I want us to move forward but I'm scared of being hurt. I need to know what you're feeling.'

'What I'm feelin'?' said Cal, stalling for time as a wave of relief went through him. For a moment he'd thought that she'd decided that she wanted the line back.

'Yes, Cal, what you're feeling. Do you have the same feelings for me that I have for you?'

'Well now, that depends; what feelings do you have for me?'

Gillian forced down her frustration, knowing that his stalling was born of insecurity, then pushed her own insecurities aside. Taking a deep breath she said,

'I'm in love with you.'

Cal let out a breath that he hadn't known that he was holding and opened his mouth to reciprocate, only to find that the words wouldn't come. Gillian's face began to fall and Cal desperately pulled her into his arms. The smell of her perfume set his heart racing and he somehow managed to say,

'That's a lucky coincidence then.'

They weren't the right words and they weren't elegant but the doubt on Gillian's face dropped away and was replaced by a radiant smile. Pulling him to her, she put one hand in his hair and kissed him. They kissed passionately for several minutes, running their hands through each other's hair and down each other's backs. Cal let his hand move round to Gillian's front and began sliding it up her ribcage. When he reached her breasts, she moaned and arched into him but then almost immediately pulled away. Worried, he said,

'Did I hurt you?'

'No.'

He looked at her flushed cheeks and dilated pupils and smirked, pulling her back into his arms,

'Having a good time?'

Gillian's flush deepened,

'Yes…but we can't.'

Cal looked at her blankly for a moment but then said,

'Oh, right, yeah. Your period's on.'

Cal relaxed his hold on her then looked quizzically at her as she gaped at him in astonishment.

Authors love feedback – please review.


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I still don't own Lie to Me.

Chapter Nineteen

Gillian pulled back from Cal, saying,

'Cal, do you have any idea how creepy that is? Please tell me you haven't been going through my diary.'

'No, it's nothing like that.'

'So, how do you know that my period's on then? Don't say it's because of PMS because we both know that if I suffered from PMS, you'd be dead by now.'

'No, it's nothing like that. You remember that day when you thought you were pregnant?'

Gillian nodded, even though she knew it was a rhetorical question. Cal knew that it was a day that she would never forget; for a few brief hours she had been deliriously happy.

'Then later I found you crying because you weren't, you were just a few hours late. Well, I started keeping track then so I could make sure that you were all right and distract you and whatnot. And well, you know what my mind is like, once I know something, I know it.'

'So you've been keeping track ever since?'

'Not consciously… but, yes.'

Gillian thought back and realised that he was telling the truth; for months there had always been something going on at work to distract her from her failure to conceive. She smiled sadly at him,

'Thank you for trying to help.'

Cal shuffled awkwardly, saying,

'Well, that's what friends are for, yeah? Wished I could have done more really.'

Like thump Alec for not being more supportive, thought Cal, but he didn't say it. Alec was out of Gill's life now and Cal intended to make sure that he never came back into it. Not that he showed any signs of wanting to, which just showed how truly stupid he was.

Gillian hugged Cal gently then said,

'It's only a couple of days.'

'Probably better anyway. Give you a chance to get over the trauma.'

'Before I'm traumatised by being in bed with you, you mean?'

'Oi, cheeky!'

Cal tried to look offended but Gillian was giggling and he couldn't help smiling as he said,

'Just you wait.'

'Oh?'

'I've got plans for you, woman.'

'Good because I've got plans for you too.'

Cal groaned at the look of pure desire on Gillian's face and pulled her tightly against his body, saying,

'I can't wait, darlin'.'

Gillian flushed as she realised how aroused Cal was. Hesitantly, she said,

'Cal, are you going to be all right to go into the office?'

'Yeah, I'll just think about Loker naked for a bit. Anyway, I'm used to having a semi when you're around.'

'Seriously, Cal?'

'Yeah, particularly when you wear those sleeveless dresses of yours. Lost count of the number of times I've wanted to take that pink one off you. And the purple one. And that blue one. And I've always wanted to watch you take off one of your business suits, preferably in my office, with Loker and Torres oblivious a few feet away.'

'No Cal! We are not having sex in the office.'

'Come on, you must have fantasised about it.'

He read the answer on her face and smirked but she said,

'Nevertheless, Cal, no sex during office hours.'

When Cal smirked triumphantly Gillian knew that he hadn't missed her Freudian slip. She'd meant to insist on no sex in the office but instead she had given him a loophole. One that he was certain to exploit. Even as she thought it, Gillian knew that she wanted him to exploit it. Over half her fantasies about him took place in the office.

'All right, darlin', no sex during office hours.'

'Or when anyone else is in the office.'

Cal pouted slightly but he couldn't imagine Gill ever allowing them to go all the way if other people were around so he nodded reluctantly.

Gillian looked at the clock and said,

'It's gone two, we'd better get going.'

They parked in Cal's usual spot and were halfway to the doors when they heard a voice calling,

'Doctor Lightman! Doctor Foster!'

With a sense of resignation, Cal turned round to face the camera. This was what happened when you let the genie out of the bottle. Plastering a smile on his face, Cal said,

'Hello Tiffany. All right?'

'When was Doctor Foster released?'

'Just a few hours ago, darlin'. So you'll understand that she's not up to answering questions at the moment.'

Tiffany ignored his comment, as he'd known she would and turned to Gillian, saying,

'Doctor Foster, how are you feeling?'

'Very glad to be free.'

Cal began edging Gillian backward towards the lift. Tiffany followed, peppering them both with questions,

'What can you tell us about your kidnappers?'

'I'm sorry, I can't tell you anything about them.'

'Was it part on an international plot?'

'No comment,' said Cal, drawing attention back to him.

'Did it have anything to do with the work you did at the Pentagon.'

'I'm sorry, luv, I can't answer that. Everything I did at the Pentagon is classified.'

Cal pushed the button for the lift and then blocked Tiffany from entering with them, saying,

'Call my office and we'll set up a time for an interview.'

On hearing that, Tiffany stopped trying to barge her way into the lift, smiling triumphantly.

'You know she's going to be really mad when you blow off the interview?' said Gillian.

'Not going to blow her off; she's been very useful these past few days.'

'So she's the source of those interesting news clips I saw?'

'Yes,' said Cal, smirking, 'Would you believe some bugger has been tipping her off as to my whereabouts? I don't know what the world's coming to.'

'Make sure you thank Anna.'

Cal grinned,

'How did you know it was Anna? Getting psychic in your old age?'

'You always use Anna for your dirty work, Cal. You take advantage of her trust in you.'

'Not this time, darlin'. This time she knew exactly why she was doing it.'

'So it was all part of your plan?'

'Yeah. I had to make Tyrell think he could trust me.'

Gillian knew that there was more to it than that but they had arrived at their floor so she dropped it.

As soon as they walked through the door, Gillian was surrounded by their staff, all of them wanting to hug her and tell her how delighted they were to see her. Cal let them celebrate for a few minutes but when he saw Gillian's composure slipping he said,

'Oi! You lot! Stop lollygagging and get back to work! I don't pay you to stand around chatting!'

Although his words were aggressive, Cal's tone wasn't and he wasn't surprised when Torres flashed amusement before wandering off. Eli lingered and Cal flashed him an impatient look, saying,

'What?'

'The feds are in the large conference room.'

As he spoke Bernard Dillon came into the lobby and said,

'Doctor Foster, I'm delighted to see you safe and sound.'

'I'm delighted to be here.'

'Do you feel well enough to talk about it?'

'I think so.'

As she said it, Gillian felt a twinge of uncertainty and wasn't surprised when Cal said,

'You don't have to do it today if you don't want to, luv.'

'I know… but I think I'd rather get it over with.'

Cal nodded and followed her in to the conference room.

It took over three hours for Gillian to give her statement to the FBI and by the end of it she was exhausted. The FBI agents had been understanding and had offered to let her take a break but she knew that if she stopped she wouldn't want to start again so she ploughed on.

Her muscles had stiffened up and she winced as she stood.

'All right, luv?'

'Just sore.'

'Time to call it a day then?'

'I wanted to take a quick look at the accounts but I'm so tired I probably couldn't make any sense of them.'

'They'll still be here tomorrow,' said Cal indifferently.

Normally Gillian would have balked at his cavalier attitude to the company finances but she knew that she was in no fit state to work. The adrenaline from her release had drained away and she felt tired and queasy. She let Cal lead her to the car and closed her eyes tiredly as he drove off.

'Where to, darlin'?'

'Sorry?'

Gillian pried her eyes open and looked blankly at him.

'Where do you want to sleep tonight? My place or yours?'

Gillian forced her tired mind to think,

'I don't have any food in.'

'I stocked up yesterday. Why don't you come to mine tonight?'

'All right.'

Cal considered suggesting that they swing by her place for some clothes but one look at her worn expression dissuaded him. She had a few bits and pieces at his place, that would have to do.

'You can have a soak in the bath whilst I make dinner.'

'Just so long as it's something with lots of vegetables in it?'

'Oh? Feelin' a bit bunged up are we?'

'Cal, I was kidnapped by a bunch of teenagers. If it weren't for the peanuts and cereal bars, I wouldn't have had any fibre at all.'

'I'll get my gas mask out for later then.'

'Cal, sometimes you are…'

'Adorable? Sexy? Debonair?'

Cal saying 'debonair' suddenly planted the image of him in a velvet jacket with immaculately coifed hair in her mind and Gillian started laughing helplessly.

Two minutes later, the tears started and Cal pulled over and held her in his arms as she cried.

Please review.


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I still don't own Lie to Me.

Chapter Twenty

Gillian climbed into the bath and let out a sigh of pleasure as the warm water started to soothe her aching muscles. She leant her head back and closed her eyes, letting her mind drift. She knew that there were things that she should be thinking about but she was too exhausted to care. Tomorrow would be time enough to think about the change in her and Cal's relationship, what exactly Cal's plan was and where he had obtained the ransom money. For now she let herself daydream about lazy afternoons cuddled up with Cal on the sofa, herself reading whilst Cal watched cricket. With a wry smile, Gillian admitted to herself that they'd both be content with that about once in a blue moon; Cal was too restless and she found cricket too boring. Settling back into the bubbles once more, she let her mind go blank.

Cal stood in the doorway to the bathroom and smirked; Gillian was nodding off to sleep, her eyelids drooping. As he looked, he noticed that the bubbles had begun to clear giving him a partial view of her naked body and he felt his pulse speed up. His breath caught as one of Gillian's nipples poked out of the water and it took all of his self-control not to kneel and take it in his mouth. Clearing his throat, he said,

'Dinner's nearly ready, luv.'

Gillian's eyes snapped open and she said,

'How long have I been in the bath?'

'Best part of an hour.'

'I've gone completely wrinkly.'

'Not from what I can see, darlin',' said Cal huskily.

Gillian looked down and blushed as she realised how much of her body Cal could see, albeit distorted by the water,

'Out, Cal.'

'You sure you don't need a hand drying yourself? I'm a dab hand with a towel.'

Cal pretended to leer and Gillian smiled but said,

'No, Cal.'

'Well, if you're sure...'

'Maybe next time.'

'I'm holding you to that.'

Cal left and Gillian climbed gingerly out of the tub and dried off.

By the time she had eaten dinner she was falling asleep again so Cal led her upstairs. He went towards the spare room but she turned towards his room, saying,

'Can I sleep with you? I don't want to be alone.'

'Of course, luv.'

Cal cleared the dishes and then spent a couple of hours skimming through some research before joining her. She was deeply asleep and Cal managed to slip in to bed without waking her. Turning towards her, he let a hand run through her hair whilst he pondered the miracle of Gillian in his bed. In the dark he admitted to himself that if Gillian hadn't been hurt he would have let Tyrell and his gang get off scotch free simply because it had finally given them the courage to cross the line from friends to lovers. However, Tyrell had put Gillian in harms way and Gillian had suffered because of it, so he deserved no mercy. As for Captain Fucking America and the rest of those plonkers in the DEA, it would take longer to get his revenge on them but he would. He didn't care how long it took; they would pay for what had happened to Gillian.  
Gillian stirred and murmured something incomprehensible in her sleep and Cal's heart leapt with joy as she moved towards him. She surfaced long enough to snuggle against his side, saying,

'Cal?'

'It's me, luv. Go back to sleep.'

She draped one arm over his chest and then she was asleep again. Cal followed her a few minutes later.

It was several hours later that Gillian had the first nightmare. Cal woke to hear her saying,

'No! Stop! Help me!'

He touched her arm to try to wake her and she pushed away from him,

'Don't! I can't breathe!'

Feeling sick to his stomach, Cal said,

'Gill, wake up. Gill!'

She stirred but didn't wake so he gripped her shoulder, saying,

'You're having a nightmare. Wake up.'

Gillian shuddered, then burst into tears as she woke, burying her head in his chest. Cal held her gently and rubbed her back as she sobbed, saying,

'It's all right. You're safe.'

After a few minutes, Gillian pulled away and fumbled for a tissue. Cal turned on a lamp and waited whilst she composed herself.

'I'm sorry I woke you.'

'It's all right, darlin', I'm happy to hug you anytime.'

'Yes, because hugging crying women is your favourite pastime.'

'Well I prefer hugging women who aren't crying but beggars can't be choosers.'

'So you'd rather be hugging someone else, would you?' said Gillian, pretending to be annoyed.

Cal smirked and said,

'Depends. Am I allowed to choose anyone I want? Sarah Palin? Paris Hilton?'

Gillian tried to look affronted but the idea of Cal with either woman was too absurd and she chuckled, saying,

'I think you're stuck with me tonight.'

'I wouldn't have it any other way, luv.'

They lay back down and Gillian was quickly asleep again, exhausted by her nightmare and tears. It took Cal longer to get back to sleep and he wasn't surprised to be woken twice more by Gillian's nightmares during the night.

The next day, on the way in to work, Cal said,

'Do you feel up to talking to the company lawyers?'

'Why?'

'So we can sue the DEA.'

'Why are we suing the DEA?' said Gillian blankly.

'Sorry, luv,' said Cal ruefully, 'I forgot that we hadn't talked about it. You were kidnapped because Tyrell and his gang wanted to get their hands on Dave Burns, and because of what he put on Facebook and Twitter, they were under the impression that kidnapping you was the way to get him.'

'What? But we split up months ago. How can they have found anything recent about us on Twitter and Facebook?'

'They found stuff because Dave put it there using his latest alias. According to Mario Carreri, you and he are deeply in love and he's planning to ask you to marry him.'

'But… that's nonsense!'

'Yes and along with all that, he'd posted photoshopped pictures of you two together, all helpfully tagged with your full name. I take it that he neglected to ask your permission first?'

'He certainly did and I wouldn't have given it if he had. Why would I allow something as dangerous as that?'

'Quite. The lawyers have prepared the case. They just need you to confirm that you didn't give permission for your name and images to be used.'

'All right.'

'Good. I'll call them as soon as we get in.'

Gillian sat in silence thinking and realised that there was an obvious question that arose from what Cal had said,

'If they wanted Dave, why did they let you ransom me?'

'I made them an offer they couldn't refuse,' said Cal, glad that driving meant that he needn't make eye contact.

Gillian looked at Cal thoughtfully. He'd just told her the truth but in such a vague way as to be meaningless. He clearly had a plan that was still ongoing and she knew him well enough to know that pushing would only lead to lies, so she said,

'That was a lot of money. I'm surprised the bank would lend you that much given that the company's position is still a bit precarious.'

Cal squirmed and Gillian said,

'You did use the company as collateral, didn't you?'

'Not exactly.'

'Cal?'

'I took out a personal loan, guaranteed against the house.'

'Cal! What were you thinking? You could lose the house.'

'Better than losing the business. After all, I can always move in with you.'

As Cal had hoped, the thought of them living together temporarily derailed Gillian's train of thought. It wouldn't last long but they were nearly at the office and hopefully, by the end of the day, he would have thought of a way to explain it to her. And it was the logical decision; with the company he could earn money to buy another house, without the company he would eventually lose the house anyway. They arrived at the Lightman Group and Gillian was further distracted when they got upstairs. Cal took one look at her office and said,

'Bloody hell, luv. Someone threw a florist's at your office.'

Gillian looked at her office speechlessly; every surface was covered with flowers and there were vases on the floor lining each wall too. As she gazed at the array, Anna arrived carrying two more bouquets, which she placed carefully on the table. Finding her voice, Gillian said,

'Anna, where did all of these come from?'

'They're from clients, Doctor Foster.'

'But…'

'I've borrowed vases from all the other offices but we've already run out. Shall I go out and buy some more?'

'No,' said Gillian, 'Take all the cards out and make a note of who sent what, then send them to the hospital.'

'All of them?'

'Keep the ones from our current clients,' suggested Cal cynically.

'And let everyone choose an arrangement for their desk,' said Gillian, 'but send all the rest to the hospital.'

'Yes, Doctor Foster. What about the chocolates?'

'What chocolates?'

Anna led them back to her desk, saying,

'I've been piling them on my desk.'

Anna desk was almost completely hidden by boxes of chocolates of all shapes and sizes. Gillian looked helplessly at Cal, who said,

'Might as well keep them, darlin'.'

'I'm not keeping all of these. Let everyone choose a box and I'll see how many are left at the end of the day.'

'Yes, Doctor Foster.'

Gillian went back to her office and cleared enough space to start the accounts. An hour later, there was a knock on the door and the company lawyers came in. With a sigh, Gillian saved what she was doing and let them run her through the lawsuit. Once they had finished, Gillian was feeling depressed, knowing that she would have to describe her ordeal in the civil courts even if it never got to the criminal court. Wandering over to Anna's desk, she chose a box of very expensive chocolates and carried it back to her office. Leaning back in her chair, she put a chocolate in her mouth and closed her eyes, moaning in pleasure as the chocolate melted in her mouth.

'Having fun?' asked Cal.

Gillian opened her eyes and smiled,

'Yes. Want one?'

'No, thanks, luv. Everything all right?'

'Yes.'

'Your face is saying no.'

'Cal, stop reading me.'

'Sorry, luv,' said Cal without a hint of repentance, 'What's bothering you?'

'It's stupid…'

'Oh?'

'I don't want to talk about what happened to me in court.'

Cal put his arm around her and said,

'We can drop it if you want.'

Gillian looked intently at Cal. For once, his face was open and she could tell that he was sincere. However, the lawyers had gone over the numbers with her and she knew that the Lightman Group needed the money and Cal needed the ransom money. And realistically, she was going to need months of therapy, if not years and why should she pay for it out of her own pocket? Sighing she said,

'No, we need to do it.'

'All right, darlin'.'

Cal dropped a gentle kiss on her forehead and then forced himself to go back to work before he kissed her senseless.

It was after four o'clock when Anna called Cal. Calmly, he walked to Gillian's office and went in. He went over to the man standing in front of her desk and said,

'Hello, Dave. How have you been?'


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

Dave turned round and said,

'Cal, good to see you again.'

'It's good to see you, and looking so well, cos, you know, I'd assumed that you were at death's door. What with you not coming to Gillian's rescue and all.'

Dave flushed and Cal could see the shame on his face,

'No, I'm fine.'

'And I'm fine and Gillian's, well, almost fine, so it's all peachy. So, what are you doing here?'

'I came to ask you to drop the case against the DEA.'

Dave was looking at Gillian and she silenced Cal with a glance, saying baldly,

'Why?'

'Because I still care for you… and I hoped that you still cared for me.'

Gillian gaped at his brazenness and Cal leapt in to the silence, saying,

'Isn't that nice? He cares for you, darlin'. Not enough to try to get you out of the mess he caused mind you, but he cares. Makes you want to chunder, dunnit?'

Dave's face darkened slightly at Cal's sarcasm but he kept his eyes on Gillian's face waiting for her response. She looked at him thoughtfully and said,

'Why didn't you contact Cal when you heard that I'd been kidnapped?'

'I didn't know.'

There was a moment of silence, then Gillian said sadly,

'I think you should go.'

'Why?'

'Dave you claim to care for me but you don't even have enough respect for me to tell the truth. Not even when you know that you're in front of the foremost lie detection expert in the world.'

'The two foremost lie detection experts in the world,' corrected Cal.

Gillian felt warmth going through her at Cal's words but she kept her face still. Dave squirmed, saying,

'All right… I didn't know at first. All I was told was that my cover was blown. I was taken to a safe house and told not to use my phone or email. By the time I found out that you'd been kidnapped, I was in lockdown with no way to contact you.'

'Truth,' said Cal, 'But here's the thing, it didn't even occur to you to try, did it?'

'I was told that I would lose my job if I did.'

'And your job is more important to you than I am,' said Gillian.

It was said as a statement not a question. Dave went to deny it but Gillian stopped him with a gesture then said,

'Please leave.'

Dave opened his mouth but Cal took him by the arm, saying,

'I'll see you out.'

As he allowed Cal to usher him out, Dave said,

'I never meant for you to get hurt.'

Gillian nodded. He was telling the truth but the fact was that he'd been careless and she had been hurt and he was responsible.

Cal kept hold of Dave's arm until they were in the lift. Dave looked questioningly at him but didn't ask why he was coming down with him. Once the lift was in motion, Cal said,

'Don't ever try to see her again.'

Cal's voice was quiet but the expression on his face was cold and threatening. Dave looked at him and said,

'You don't own her.'

'No, I don't and I can't stop her if she decides to come and see you. But, the thing is, every time she has anything to do with you, she ends up in trouble so I'd like to minimise the risk. You understand?'

Dave looked at Cal and nodded grudgingly. Probably the only thing that he and Cal would ever agree on was the need to protect Gillian. He felt truly ashamed about what had happened and would have tried to help if he could have found a way to do so without losing his job.

'Good.'

They stood in silence for the rest of the trip down and Dave was startled when Cal took his arm again as the lift stopped. Cal led him over to the Security station and said,

'Morning, Bill. Take a good look at this man and get his picture printed off from the CCTV footage.'

'Yes, Doctor Lightman. Problem?'

'He's banned from the Lightman Group. Forever. No matter who he's with.'

'Yes, Sir. I'll add him to the list. His name?'

'Well, that's a good question. He goes by various… put him down as Dave Burns aka Mario Carreri. Make sure all the others know that he's not allowed in.'

'Yes, Doctor Lightman.'

Dave flushed with anger as the humiliation sunk in and shaking Cal's hand off, he strode out the door.  
Cal didn't bother looking outside to see if Dave was being followed; he knew that he would be.

When Cal got back upstairs he went straight to Gillian's office. Gillian was gazing blankly at her computer screen and Cal could see that she was exhausted. Going in, he said,

'That's enough. Time for a break.'

'I need to get these accounts done,' protested Gillian.

'They'll still be there later. Come and have a coffee with me.'

'All right. As long as I get cake too.'

Gillian went over to the coat rack but was stopped by Cal casually saying,

'Tell you what, why don't I send Loker and Torres out to get coffee and cakes. They could do with the exercise; Loker's starting to look quite porky.'

'Good idea,' agreed Gillian cordially, 'and while they're doing that, you can tell me why you don't want me leaving the office.'

Cal considered deflecting but one look at Gillian's face made it quite clear that she wasn't going to indulge him today. Shrugging resignedly, he said,

'All right.'

They found Ria and Eli in the lab, arguing about some footage, and Cal interrupted them without ceremony, saying,

'Foster wants coffee and cake. Go and get her some.'

'Cal, you can't just order them about like that.'

Cal looked blankly at Gillian, saying,

'Why not? I'm the one paying their wages.'

'_We're_ the ones paying their wages and we don't pay them to fetch coffee.'

'I stand corrected,' said Cal sarcastically, 'Doctor Foster is somewhat fatigued so I wondered if you would be kind enough to fetch her some refreshments.'

Cal had put on a fake upper class accent and he smirked triumphantly as Gillian's lip twitched. Eli and Ria exchanged looks and Eli said,

'Sure. What would you like?'

'I'll have a standard coffee and she'll have something with an eight-syllable name and a piece of chocolate cake.'

Eli just nodded blandly and turned to Gillian who said,

'I'll have a skinny cappuccino with two sugars and a blueberry muffin, please, Eli.'

'Coming right up,' said Eli and he and Ria left.

Gillian sank down on the sofa in Cal's study with a sigh, kicking her shoes off and letting her head loll back against the cushion. Cal sat beside her and said,

'Tired, luv?'

'Yes.'

'Come 'ere.'

Cal held out his arms and Gillian went into his embrace eagerly, turning herself sideways and tucking her legs up. Cal kissed her gently, running his hands through her hair. Gillian responded and they kissed for a couple of minutes before Gillian pulled back slightly, saying,

'Talk, Cal.'

'Wouldn't you rather kiss me?'

Gillian smiled at the mock hurt expression on his face, saying,

'Later, Cal. Now tell me what's going on.'

'Well…'

'Cal…'

Cal still hesitated so Gillian took his hand in hers and said,

'Cal, you've given Dave to the kidnappers, haven't you?'

Cal raised his eyes to her face and was relieved when she let him read her; Gillian was concerned not angry. Taking a deep breath, he said,

'I can explain.'

Gillian nodded and Cal explained Plan D to her.

Afterwards, she sat quietly and thought about it for a minute or two, then said,

'I don't see what else you could have done.'

'Me neither. If the DEA had talked to me…'

'Yes. How long before it's over?'

'Depends when Tyrell decides to take him but I don't think it'll be long.'

'And in the meantime you want me safely out the way?'

'I don't want to put temptation in their way. I… um… it was very inconvenient not having the accounts done, you know.'

Gillian smiled and said teasingly,

'So it wasn't the sight of me in tight skirts that you missed?'

'Do you sometimes wear tight skirts, Foster? I hadn't noticed.'

Gillian laughed and Cal held her tightly and said quietly,

'I felt as though someone had ripped my guts out.'

Cal's voice was full of anguish and Gillian pulled his face down to hers and kissed him passionately, wanting to wipe the pain away. Cal responded instantly and they lost themselves in a lust filled haze.

'Oh crap!'

The horrified exclamation jerked them apart and Cal glared at Loker, saying,

'What do you mean, 'Oh crap'?'

'I…uh…I was just embarrassed at walking in on you,' stammered Eli.

Cal looked closely at him then said,

'Fair enough. Is that our coffee?'

'Yes, Doctor Lightman.'

'Hand it over then.'

Eli hurriedly put the drinks and cake on the table and escaped. Cal picked up his coffee and drank, saying,

'That solves one problem anyway; we don't have to worry about when to tell everyone at the office any more.'

'True.'

Gillian sounded subdued and when Cal looked at her he realised that she was mortified. Making eye contact with her, he said,

'None of that; we haven't done anything wrong.'

'No because making out in the office during office hours is fine.'

'We were taking a break, luv, and we were only kissing. I didn't even have my hand in your knickers or anything.'

The thought of Cal's hand in her knickers temporarily distracted Gillian and she reached for her coffee and cake to stop herself from grabbing Cal and ripping his clothes off. Reminding herself that it wouldn't be long before they could release the sexual tension between them, she said,

'I know but it's embarrassing. I feel like a teenager caught making out with her boyfriend.'

'Did you do lots of making out when you were a teenager?' asked Cal, his mind immediately going back to the gutter.

'Not really. I was determined to graduate top of my class, which meant that boyfriends came after my schoolwork. There are very few teenage boys who can accept that.'

'Well they were probably desperate to get you behind the bleachers and get their hands on your gorgeous body.'

Gillian blushed and smiled and Cal felt his arousal surging again and completely unselfconsciously reached down and adjusted himself in his jeans. Gillian felt a thrill going through her as she realised how much power she had over him. Was that why he always wore baggy jeans? To stop her from seeing when he was aroused? One of her fantasies leapt to the forefront of her mind and Gillian looked down at the floor as she tried to control her own arousal. When she looked up, Cal was smirking at her,

'Now that was an interesting thought you were just having, luv. Anything you'd like to share?'

'Not today, Cal. I don't think it would help your current situation.'

'Don't you worry about that. Me and my situation have got a hot date in the shower later and I could do with something to think about.'

'Nice try, Cal, but I am not going to tell you my sexual fantasies before we've even slept together.'

'Technically, we slept together last night.'

'So we did and maybe one night I'll tell you what I was thinking just now… if you're very good.'

'Oh, I'm good, darlin'. Just you wait and see.'

Cal's words were a soft growl and his lips were grazing Gillian's ear. She bit back a moan as the contact sent lightening through her body. Shivering, she forced herself to stand up, saying,

'I'm going back to my office to finish the accounts. I'll see you later.'

Cal watched her walk out of his study then sat back with a groan. He would need to think of something really revolting to calm himself down. Scrubbing his hands over his face, he started visualising his least favourite politicians naked.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

Cal yawned as he turned the coffee maker on. Gillian had had six nightmares during the night and as a result Cal was feeling distinctly weary. Gillian came into the kitchen and Cal looked worriedly at her.

'Cal, stop it.'

'Stop what?'

'Stop looking at me as though I'm about to break. I'm fine.'

'I'm afraid that I'll have to disagree with you there, luv. You forget that I was in the same bed as you last night. How many nightmares was it? Six?'

Gillian sighed, but reluctantly said,

'Yes, I'm having nightmares. It's to be expected, Cal.'

'I know that, darlin'. Doesn't stop me from worrying though. And, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't do something about it. Have you called your therapist?'

'Not yet…'

'Why don't you call them now? See if they can fit you in today.'

'I should really finish the accounts.'

'Your mental health is more important than the accounts.'

'Okay. So what about you? Should I make an appointment for you too?'

'Nah, too late for me, luv. I'm beyond help.'

Cal grinned as he said it but wasn't surprised when Gillian didn't fall for it,

'Deflection, Cal. It affected you too. I wasn't the only one to have nightmares last night, was I?'

Cal grimaced as the memory flooded back. In his dream he'd been too late; Tyrell had killed Gillian and he'd had to identify her cold and lifeless body. Without thinking about it, Cal crossed the kitchen and pulled Gillian into his arms holding her tightly. Gillian hugged him back and they stood in silence, relishing the closeness. After a couple of minutes the atmosphere between them changed and Gillian realised that Cal was aroused again. Marvelling at the effect she had on him, Gillian gently pulled away from him, saying,

'Think about it, Cal. I know you hate counselling but trauma doesn't go away just because you ignore it.'

Her voice was gentle, asking rather than insisting, so Cal managed to bite back an aggressive response, merely nodding curtly. Knowing that she wouldn't get any further with him today, Gillian fetched her phone and dialled. Her therapist had heard about the kidnapping and immediately offered Gillian an appointment that afternoon. Both dreading it and feeling relieved, Gillian agreed. As she put her phone away, Cal said,

'All right?'

'Yes. Doctor Mitchell can fit me in this afternoon.'

'What time?'

'Three-thirty.'

'All right.'

Gillian realised without surprise that he was intending to take her. Part of her knew that at some point she was going to have to stand on her own two feet again but for now she was grateful that she wasn't going to have to try to concentrate on the DC traffic after what was certain to be an emotional session.

The morning was quiet and by lunchtime Gillian was up to date with the accounts. She went to review some client files but reluctantly remembered her promise to Cal. Putting the files away she wandered down the hall and into his office, knocking on his doorframe before going in. Cal was on the phone so she sat on the visitor's chair and waited. Cal ended the call quickly and looked over to her, saying,

'All right, luv?'

'I've finished the accounts.'

'Everything okay?'

'We need more work but we're scraping by.'

'I'll get Loker and Torres on it.'

'I could make a few calls.'

'Not today. You're supposed to be resting.'

Gillian made no attempt to stop him from seeing what she thought of that idea and he said,

'Don't make that face at me. It's doctor's orders.'

'Tell me something, Cal. Why are you allowed to ignore doctors even when you're badly hurt but I'm supposed to be coddled the instant I get a few bruises?'

'Firstly, you know it isn't because of the bruises and secondly, because you're a lot smarter than I am.'

'So you're saying that I'm a genius too?'

Cal grinned insincerely,

'Absolutely, darlin'.'

Gillian smiled reluctantly. He didn't mean a word of it but the fact that he would tease her about it meant that he was back to treating her as an equal. Putting on an equally fake smile, she said,

'What you mean is that I'm not as self-destructive as you.'

Cal's eyes flickered in acknowledgement but outwardly he ignored her comment, saying,

'Why don't we go out for lunch? My treat.'

'Your treat, Cal? Have you actually got any money left in your bank account? I'm buying today.'

Gillian had been surprised when the kidnappers had returned her purse to her. All her cash was gone, along with her phone but her credit cards had still been in their slots in her wallet. A few phone calls had confirmed that her cards hadn't been used in her absence, presumably to stop the police from being able to trace the kidnappers. Whatever the reason, it meant that Gillian was still in a good financial position, unlike Cal. Cal shrugged indifferently, saying,

'All right.'

On their way out, Cal diverted to Loker's desk.

'Yes, Doctor Lightman?'

'Foster and I are going to be busy for the rest of the day so you're in charge.'

'Yes, Doctor Lightman.'

'See if you can rustle us up some more work. Get Ria to help you.'

'It should be quite easy now that Doctor Foster's back. I know we've had some enquiries.'

'Good. I look forward to hearing all about it…on Monday.'

'On Monday? You're taking the weekend off?'

'He's bright, isn't he?' said Cal sarcastically.

'It's one of the reasons we hired him,' said Gillian calmly.

Eli smiled at the oblique compliment,

'Don't worry. Ria and I will take care of everything.'

'Don't forget to lock up. And, Loker, unless something urgent comes up, take the weekend off.'

Eli looked at the floor and Cal said,

'I mean it Loker. I don't want to come in on Monday morning and find you exhausted because you spent the weekend engrossed in footage of chimpanzees and forgot to get any sleep.'

Eli looked resignedly at him and said,

'Sometimes I do wonder if you're a mind reader.'

'No, Cal's just very smart,' said Gillian.

She put her hand on Eli's shoulder and squeezed gently, saying,

'Everyone's been working very hard and we really appreciate it…'

'Speak for yourself.'

Gillian ignored Cal's interjection and continued,

'…but everyone needs to take a break this weekend. If it's quiet this afternoon, send everyone home early.'

'Yes, Doctor Foster.'

Gillian shot Cal an amused smile as they left, saying,

'How many times has he talked about watching the chimpanzee footage?'

'At least fifty times and that's just in my hearing. Yeah, not much mind reading required.'

Arms linked they waited for the lift.

After lunch they went for a gentle stroll until it was time to leave for Gillian's appointment. As they reached the waiting room, Cal's phone rang,

'This better not be Loker…Lightman.'

'Dillon. We're going in.'

'Now? Good luck.'

As Cal hung up, Gillian realised that his mood had changed turning sombre. Looking at his fully masked face she said,

'It's started, hasn't it?'

For a moment Cal wanted to lie to her but he forced himself to be honest,

'Yes.'

Gillian sighed and clasped his hand tightly, wishing that she could make it all go away.

Dr Mitchell came into the waiting room and said,

'Gillian, I'm so glad to see you.'

The woman's words sounded sincere and as Cal observed her, he saw nothing but honesty. She turned to Cal and held out her hand, saying,

'Doctor Lightman, I'm pleased to meet you. Gillian's told me about you.'

Cal shook hands, saying,

'All wonderful stuff, I'm sure.'

His facetiousness widened Dr Mitchell's smile and Cal found himself wondering if she was honest in the consulting room too.

'Are you joining us, Doctor Lightman?'

'Not today. I'm waiting for an urgent telephone call.'

Dr Mitchell raised one eyebrow and Gillian said,

'He actually is today. The lies will come later.'

Dr Mitchell nodded and led Gillian into the consulting room.

By the time Gillian's counselling session finished, Cal was itching to phone Dillon even though he knew that it could endanger the mission. He was about to make a sarcastic remark about the magazines available in the waiting room but a glance at Gillian's tear-stained face stopped him in his tracks. Instead he opened his arms and simply held Gillian as she buried her head in his shoulder. After a couple of minutes, she sighed and pulled back slightly, saying,

'Thank you, Cal. I needed that.'

'Anytime, luv.'

Hand in hand, they left the building.

They had decided to spend the weekend at Gillian's house and it wasn't until they'd bought groceries and got back that Cal's phone finally rang,

'Lightman.'

'It's over. We got them all.'

'Good. Any casualties?'

'Two kidnappers dead and four injured. None of my agents were hurt.'

'And Burns?'

'He'll be fine. Broken arm and a few bruises, I think.'

'Good. Thanks for letting me know.'

'Bye.'

He turned to Gillian and dropped his mask, letting her see the relief he was feeling,

'It's over. They've caught the gang members and Dave's safe.'

'Was anyone hurt?'

'Two gang members dead, four injured. Dave's got a broken arm and a few bruises. None of the FBI agents were hurt.'

It was as though a weight was lifting off her and Gillian felt almost giddy before the realisation hit her that some young men and women were dead. Cal put his arms around her as she cried quietly for the sheer stupidity of it all.

They had had a light supper and gone to bed early and Gillian had slept quite well. She'd had two nightmares but she'd been able to get back to sleep very quickly afterwards. Whether it was because of the counselling or whether it was because her kidnappers were safely under lock and key, Gillian didn't know but she woke up feeling much better. Stretching gingerly, she could still feel the damaged muscles but they were definitely mending. She slipped out of bed and went to the bathroom.

Cal woke as Gillian snuggled into his side, automatically running his hand down her back. He froze as his hand slid along bare skin rather than cloth. Suddenly wide awake, he slid his hand further down until he found the curve of her hip, also naked. In one swift movement, he rolled over, pinning her to the bed and finding her lips with his. They kissed passionately and Cal ran his hands up her rib cage to cup her breasts. She moaned and ran her hands down his back scratching lightly. That slight contact was enough to make Cal fully aroused and he forced himself to pull back slightly and say,

'You sure?'

'Yes.'

Cal kissed her again then took advantage of the slight separation between their bodies to yank his sweatpants off, suddenly very glad that he never wore a top to bed. Reaching between them, he caressed his way up her thighs, absurdly glad when she eagerly parted them for him. Cal moved one hand up to her breast, to pinch and tug the nipple, whilst the other moved between her thighs. Gillian groaned and whimpered as Cal skilfully aroused her. She tried to reach down and stroke him but he moved away so she concentrated on his chest and arms instead, wishing that it was light enough for her to be able to see his tattoos. Cal continued to tease and arouse Gillian until she was arching beneath him, saying,

'Please, Cal.'

Cal hurriedly reached into his bedside cabinet and pulled out a condom. He fumbled with the foil packet in the dark but finally pulled it on. Without hurrying, he joined their bodies, groaning with pleasure at the intense sensation. Gillian groaned too and then they were moving together, urging each other on. Cal gritted his teeth as his body tried to race towards completion, determined to wait for Gillian. He kissed and sucked the side of Gillian's neck and the added pleasure was enough to send her over the edge. Cal relaxed his self-control and followed her a few seconds later. Panting, Cal rolled them so Gillian was tucked into his side, then slipped the condom off and tied a knot in it and put it on the bedside cabinet to be dealt with later. Reaching down, he ran his hand through her hair. Gillian snuggled in contentedly and drifted back to sleep.


	23. Chapter 23

**Author's note: There is an MA version of this chapter posted on A link can be found in my profile (click on my pen name).**

Chapter Twenty-Three

Gillian woke feeling ravenously hungry. As she stirred she felt Cal's arm tighten around her and happiness shot through her as she remembered that they had finally crossed the line from friends to lovers. She wriggled, trying to move Cal's arm but he simply pulled her tighter to his side. Smiling wryly she thought that it was somehow appropriate that his possessiveness should show even in his sleep. Gillian loved Cal deeply but she knew that they were going to have some stormy times ahead. Cal was a narcissist with control issues who had trouble expressing his emotions and whilst she didn't feel the need to be in control she wasn't naturally submissive either (outside of certain fantasies anyway). They both had issues from their pasts that had left sore spots and now they had new trauma to deal with. Shrugging inwardly, Gillian reminded herself that there was no point looking for problems before they arose. They had the whole weekend off and she was in bed with the man she loved; she was going to enjoy herself.

Gillian lifted her hand to Cal's face and began gently stroking his face and neck, enjoying the feel of his stubble rasping across her palm. Cal opened his eyes slowly and when he saw Gillian he smiled, saying,

'Mornin', luv.'

'Hi.'

Cal captured the hand that was stroking his face and raised it to his lips, kissing Gillian's palm before working his way along to her wrist, carefully avoiding her bruises. Gillian shivered as Cal found exactly the right spot and her body began to hum with arousal again. However, before they could get carried away her stomach rumbled loudly and Cal let go of her wrist, saying,

'Breakfast first, eh?'

'Yes, I'm starving.'

'Beans on toast?'

'For breakfast? No. How about an omelette?'

'All right though beans are high in fibre you know.'

Gillian laughed as she got out of bed and switched on the light, saying,

'True but since my system's back to normal, I'll pass thank you.'

Cal was about to make a flippant remark but his first sight of Gillian naked froze the words on his tongue. He'd always known that she was beautiful but the reality of her naked body was incredible. He let his eyes run down her body, openly admiring her breasts then drifting lower. His pulse began to race at the thought of making her fall apart again. Cal loved watching women orgasm and Gillian had featured in his fantasies for years now.  
He was brought out of his reverie by Gillian saying softly,

'See something you like?'

'Very much so, darlin'. Has anyone ever told you that you have a perfect body?'

'No,' said Gillian, blushing slightly.

Men had often praised her body but no one had ever used the word perfect before. And coming from Cal, who'd seen a lot of women naked, it meant even more.

'Well take it from me, luv, if you were any more perfect, you'd be a statue in a museum. Thinking of hard things, you'd better put some clothes on if you want to get breakfast any time soon, if you get my drift?'

Cal waggled his eyebrows suggestively and Gillian giggled helplessly. She pulled her pyjamas on then stood and watched as he got out of bed. Cal grinned impishly and stretched, putting his hands behind his head so she had a clear view. Gillian let her gaze wander over his torso, admiring his tattoos before looking further down. When she dragged her eyes up to his face he was gazing at her with a mixture of love and lust and she found herself moving towards him, needing to touch him. They kissed but when Gillian's hands started moving downwards, Cal caught them in his own and pulled back, saying,

'None of that or that omelette will never get cooked.'

'We could eat later…'

'We could or we could eat a quick breakfast and then I could eat you for afters.'

'Cal…'

Gillian shivered with arousal and Cal smirked, delighted to be able to affect her. He fished around in the bed for his sweatpants and pulled them on, saying,

'I'll be thinking about licking my way down your body with every mouthful I take.'

Gillian somehow managed to resist the temptation to grab him and insist on instant gratification, knowing that delaying it would only make it more intense but it took all of her self control.

They went downstairs and made breakfast together. Cal took every opportunity to touch Gillian, gently caressing any scrap of exposed skin he could find. Gillian reciprocated, running her hands across his chest and back and down his arms, all between chopping, stirring and cooking. Once the food was ready, they sat down beside each other and began to eat. Cal made sure to sit on Gillian's right so that eating with his right hand would leave his left hand free to touch her. He waited for a minute or two then put his hand on her knee and drew little circles with his thumb. Gillian breathing increased and when he looked at her face she made no attempt to hide her arousal. Cal let his mask drop so Gillian could see how aroused he was too, then slowly moved his hand upwards. Gillian pretended to concentrate on her food but let her legs part to allow Cal full access. Cal shovelled in another couple of mouthfuls of food then moved his hand upwards until he was right at the top of her thigh, just short of where she really wanted him to be. He continued drawing circles with his thumb, then started scratching lightly with his fingers, all the while shovelling down his food.  
Gillian squirmed as his teasing began to make her pulse race. She tried to move forward on to his hand but he moved his hand with her. She felt frustration surge through her followed immediately by a rush of arousal. She locked eyes with Cal, knowing that he wouldn't have missed the emotions flickering across her face. His pupils were dilated and he swallowed as he said thickly,

'You like being teased, don't you?'

Gillian blushed but nodded. It had long been a fantasy of hers to be with someone who would tease her, someone who would know how much she could bear, how much she wanted. Another wave of arousal washed over her as she realised that as long as she didn't shield her emotions Cal would be able to read the slightest change in her expression. Smirking, Cal said,

'I think I can manage that. Eat your breakfast.'

Gillian forced her attention back to her plate and tried to concentrate on eating as Cal continued to tease her, letting his hand roam over everywhere except where she needed it. By the time she'd finished eating, she was incoherent with desire. She got up, intending to lead him upstairs but he said,

'Time to do the washing up.'

She looked at him in stunned disbelief and he smiled smugly, saying,

'I'll lend a hand here and there.'

Gillian moaned as she realised what he was going to do. Hands shaking, she picked up the plates and took them over to the sink. As she turned the water on, Cal came up behind her and started teasing her, running his hands over her body. He pushed her pyjama bottoms down and stood gazing at her,

'You have a lovely arse.'

Just when Gillian thought that she couldn't bear it any more, Cal started caressing her buttocks. Cal teased her for several minutes, moving his hands slowly over her body, until every nerve ending was hypersensitive and Gillian was making incoherent pleas mixed with swear words. Cal grinned as he used his hands to send her over the edge. Gillian screamed as an intense climax ripped through her body, arching into his hand as waves of pleasure went through her. Cal waited until the last shudders had finished before pulling his hand away and licking it, saying,

'You taste delicious.'

Gillian blushed but didn't look away, letting Cal see the mixture of embarrassment and arousal his words caused. Cal responded by leaning in and kissing her tenderly wishing that he could find the words to tell her how he felt. Not just how much he loved her but how much he appreciated her trust in him. Gillian was one of the only people in the world who could mask her feelings from him but she had chosen to let her mask drop and let him in. Cal just wished that he could do the same. Perhaps one day he'd be able to. In the meantime, she was naked and willing in his arms; it was time to make her scream again.

Cal helped Gillian get rid of her pyjamas and led her upstairs. They lay on the bed and Cal started to kiss his way down her body. Gillian smiled but stopped him, saying,

'Isn't it your turn?'

'Not yet, luv. I want to hear you scream and swear some more first.'

Gillian blushed and looked away and Cal said,

'None of that; it was sexy as hell.'

Gillian looked at him and Cal dropped his mask so that she could see that he was telling the truth. She relaxed and said,

'So you find me swearing sexy, do you?'

Cal thought about it for a moment before replying,

'Not the swearing so much as the fact that you lost control, that you trusted me enough to let go completely.'

Gillian smiled radiantly and kissed him, saying,

'You're the only person I've ever trusted enough to let myself go like that.'

Cal looked away, unwilling to let Gillian see how much her words had affected him. Scared of how easy it would be to tell Gillian that he trusted her too, he said,

'Well it must be time to see how many swear words you know then.'

'Wait.'

'What, luv?'

'Cal, do we need to use condoms?'

Cal looked hesitantly at her and she quickly continued, wanting to get it out in the open, knowing that he wouldn't want to hurt her by asking,

'I can't get pregnant and I know I'm clean.'

Cal raised an eyebrow at the second half of her sentence and Gillian explained,

'After Dave…left, I got myself tested because I realised that he might have had sex with other women as part of his job.'

Gillian didn't bother to tell Cal that she hadn't had sex with anyone since Dave because they both knew that he knew. He was very good at warning other men off and if she did date anyone, he followed them around, 'to make sure that she was safe'. At least she wouldn't have to worry about that particular exasperating habit any more. Cal nodded and said,

'I'm clean too; I got myself tested three months ago.'

Gillian looked curiously at him wondering if it was a coincidence that Claire had died three months ago. Cal had been very supportive since Claire had died and the aggressive, immature behaviour that had been infuriating her in the months beforehand had vanished. Had Cal had an epiphany similar to the one that she had experienced when she had been in the hands of the kidnappers? Cal didn't elaborate and Gillian didn't push him; with Cal going in softly was the only way to get the truth about his emotions. Instead she smiled and said,

'No condoms then. Good.'

They kissed and caressed each other and Gillian relaxed and let Cal take control as he moved slowly down her body, using his hands and mouth to make her squirm and moan. By the time he settled between her thighs she was already begging and he gave her a wolfish smile, saying,

'I hope you aren't in a hurry, luv, cos I'm going to take my time.'

The look on Cal's face was pure devilment and Gillian knew that he was revelling in the control he had over her. The knowledge that he was capable of delaying her orgasm indefinitely sent another wave of arousal through her body and she bucked her hips up towards his mouth. Smirking, Cal lowered his mouth and began to torment her, driving her ever higher but not quite sending her over the edge. By the time he lifted himself up and joined their bodies, Gillian was using words that even Cal never used and she dug her fingernails into his back as they moved together. It only took a few seconds for Gillian to climax and the sight of her writhing beneath him, screaming his name was enough to send Cal over the edge too. Panting, they collapsed together. Cal managed to roll them over so Gillian was on top before they both fell asleep.

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